USC may soon see another student recognized for his achievements. Nick Santamaria, a third-year political science student, has been named as a finalist for the prestigious Truman Scholarship.
The focus of his application, and hopefully his career, is the rule of law — the way in which the people and government hold one another accountable in order to establish fair laws. This is especially personal to Santamaria, whose parents, including his Italian immigrant father, did not graduate high school. He will be the first in his family to graduate from college and he attributes that to the fact that his parents thrived in a place like the U.S., which provided them the opportunity to make a life for themselves and their children.
“To be able to provide people and society and citizens in general some stability, some accountability in the way that they live and in their lives because once you have that, you have the ability to move forward to work hard, to advance, to progress,” Santamaria said.
Santamaria has been extremely involved on campus since his first year. He has served as the treasurer and now the regional tournament director for mock trial. He has also gone from a member of freshman council with Student Government to the director of the congressional advisory board. The board will be going to D.C. in two weeks to lobby to South Carolina representatives about issues like higher education, mental health, sexual assault and curriculum.
“I’m looking to take advantage of every opportunity that’s afforded to me.”
The Truman Scholarship is a highly selective federal scholarship that is awarded annually to approximately 60 U.S. college juniors who have a demonstrated commitment to public service. Truman Scholars receive $30,000 to cover graduate study in fields such as law, public policy and education.
Santamaria plans to use the award to attend law school. He hopes to focus his work on improving the rule of law in foreign countries, with his application specifically focusing on a policy proposal for Ukraine.
“Right now, [in] situations abroad, whether it’s Ukraine or other counties, there are opportunities to make a lot more advancement than there would in the U.S.”
Although Santamaria intends to pursue a career at the State Department, he said that he believes it is important to gain first-hand experience before working on policy reform.
“What I see as the biggest impact that a person can make would be going abroad and starting from the ground up and making those changes.”
Santamaria said that the Truman Scholarship has stood out to him ever since he decided to pursue a career in public service as a first-year student. He has interned with the South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense, where he helped to provide legal representation for those facing the death penalty, in addition to working for the New York state senate for two years.
He offered one piece of advice for students interested in applying for the scholarship.
“The biggest thing, just in general, as a lesson learned from my whole experience here at USC, is to get involved. I would never have the track record of experiences to talk about in my application, that allowed me to be selected, if it weren’t for just getting involved.”
Santamaria will interview in New York on March 31.