Degree: B.S. in Honors History
How did the Stamps Scholarship help shape your undergraduate experience?
The Stamps Scholarship provided me with an unparalleled opportunity to explore the world and learn about the cultures and institutions that affect our everyday lives. Without a doubt, these experiences will aid me in becoming a better leader and contributor to my community.
Tell us a piece of wisdom you’ve learned over the past four years.
Read all you can; question everything; make reasoned and evidenced arguments; embrace the inevitability of failure but never be defeated.
Who has had the greatest impact on you throughout your college career and how so?
My best friend and Navy Sprint football teammate, Justin Zemser, who passed away in May of 2015, continues to inspire me with his example compassion, servant leadership, and optimism.
What’s your favorite Stamps Scholar memory?
Traveling to Sils-Maria, Switzerland and London in the summer of 2016 in order to conduct independent research for my honors history thesis.
What comes next?
In May, I will commission as a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. I then plan to attend Tsinghua University as part of the 2018 Class of Schwarzman Scholars. After earning my graduate degree, I will report to The Basic School in Quantico, VA to receive training in Marine Corps leadership as a provisional rifle platoon commander.
Please share your favorite inspirational quote.
“Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one’s own understanding without another’s guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one’s own mind without another’s guidance. Dare to know! (Sapere aude.) ‘Have the courage to use your own understanding,’ is therefore the motto of the enlightenment.” – Immanuel Kant