Princeton University junior Quentin Colón Roosevelt has been awarded a Truman Scholarship, which provides funding for graduate studies in public service, as well as leadership training and internship opportunities within the federal government. Colón Roosevelt, a member of the Class of 2027, is one of 55 recipients nationwide.
Colón Roosevelt is a history major from Washington, D.C., who is also pursuing minors in American studies and religion. He is interested in a career in politics and government and hopes to use the Truman Scholarship to earn an MPA/J.D. dual degree in law and public service.
Following his graduate studies, he plans to work as an attorney for a public advocacy organization or for government in either New York or Washington, D.C. He is especially interested in legislative and administrative reforms to housing and land-use policy, as well as city development and urban planning.
Colón Roosevelt is the recipient of a Gilder Lehrman College Fellowship in American History, which supports undergraduate research at the Gilder Lehrman Collection and other archives in New York City. His academic interests include the history of social movements and political organizing, and the focus of his two junior papers has been on the transatlantic abolitionist movement and the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S.
He was elected to public office at age 18 as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner for Ward 3 in Washington, D.C., and has regularly volunteered or worked as an organizer for political campaigns since high school.
Associate Professor of History Peter Wirzbicki said Colón Roosevelt stands out as “a remarkably bright, hardworking and ethical student.”
“Quentin is a leader, both in and out of the classroom, but also a student who models kindness and support to his colleagues. He is a careful and diligent scholar, someone who can brilliantly interpret a text, do painstaking historical research, and offer new and creative insights into our history,” Wirzbicki said. “His academic and extracurricular achievements are remarkable, and we are all sure he has a bright future ahead of him.”
At Princeton, Colón Roosevelt is president of the Undergraduate Student Government (USG). He previously served as treasurer and chair of its sustainability committee and helped create its Civil Liberties Task Force, now a standing committee. He is also a member of the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) and serves on its executive committee.
Jelani Johnson, assistant dean for student programming in the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students, advises USG and praised Colón Roosevelt’s “vision for expanded access to funding and programming, a strengthened commitment to civil liberties, and [an] emphasis on advocacy and community engagement.”
“I believe Quentin’s background and passion for effectuating change exemplify the dynamism and tenacity that are so critically needed for a life of public service,” Johnson said.
Colón Roosevelt is a member of Butler College, a former president of Princeton College Democrats and has volunteered as an organizer for the Sunrise Movement both on campus and in Washington, D.C., and New York.
He was a summer fellow with the nonpartisan VOTE100 initiative in the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students and a policy intern at RMI (formerly the Rocky Mountain Institute). This summer, he will work as a legislative intern for U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman.
