STUDENT PROFILE: SEMAJ MARTIN-REDD

BY: AVA RICHARDSON

Mississippi State University senior and political science major Semaj Martin-Redd said he chose MSU because he fell in love with the campus and the down-to-earth people here after attending several Model United Nations conferences on campus during his high school years.
Martin-Redd was able to share his excitement for MSU with peers across the country this summer during a fellowship at Princeton University.
After Martin-Redd was selected for membership in MSU’s Judy and Bobby Shackouls Honors College his junior year, he met Tommy Anderson, director of the Office of Prestigious External Scholarships and the associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Arts and Sciences.  Anderson encouraged Martin-Redd to apply for a summer institute program at Princeton – the 2019 Public Policy and International Affairs Junior Fellowship.
PPIA gathers diverse students from various backgrounds and fosters conversations about ideas and different topics in the political world while also providing first-hand experience and knowledge from professionals already in the field.
Martin-Redd joined Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs with 30 other fellows selected from universities across the nation.
“When I got the email that said I was accepted into the summer program at Princeton, and I was so excited and honored. I will admit I did not fully realize what it was until I got there,” Martin-Redd said. “I almost can’t put it into words. I learned so much about so many different things. It was like all these people that you hear about and cite in your papers were right in front of me, and I could go to their office and ask them questions. It was an incredible opportunity to realize I was a part of that and see that I can play with the ‘big kids.’”
A recipient of the College of Arts and Sciences’ Hunter Henry Undergraduate Excellence Program Scholarship, Martin-Redd said he was grateful that the College helped fund the programs and opportunities that prepared him for his experience at Princeton.
“I would argue and venture to say that if I didn’t have the scholarship they gave me for the other programs I was a part of this past summer, then I wouldn’t have been able to bring a unique perspective to my cohorts at Princeton.”