Q&A with Obama-Chesky Scholarship recipient Iman Ahmad ’27 – The Dartmouth
On Sept. 23, Iman Ahmad ’27 became the third Dartmouth student to be awarded an Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship for Public Service. Every year, the scholarship program — co-founded by Barack and Michelle Obama and Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky in 2022 — awards 100 scholars a $50,000 scholarship and funds a “summer voyage” to work and travel abroad during junior summer.
Selected scholars “have a passion for helping others, experience serving their communities and can demonstrate an expansive view of what’s possible through public service.”
Ahmad — who is majoring in government and minoring in women’s, gender and sexuality studies — is currently studying abroad at the University of Edinburgh. She plans to use the scholarship to study law with a focus on immigration and human rights. The Dartmouth sat down with Ahmad to discuss her past work, her reaction to winning the scholarship and her current goals.
How did you react when you were informed of the scholarship?
IA: I was super excited to be able to do anything I want to do next summer. Usually you have to pick something that is a paid internship, and it kind of limits your options. And then you also have to consider where you’re going to live. But, I was very excited that I have endless possibilities.
What did you write about in your application?
IA: I wrote that I really wanted casework with asylum seekers, and I would like to do more legal research on how to best protect refugees and legal immigrants. I talked about wanting to help people navigate the complex system that we have for immigration, and then I talked about growing up in a Muslim household.
What are you involved in at Dartmouth? What classes have had the biggest impact on your decision to pursue a career in public service?
IA: I’m co-president of Rotaract and Women in Law and Politics, and I’m also involved in Model UN. I took GOVT 95: “Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy” in the spring with professor Lisa Baldez, and it opened my eyes to a lot of different human rights that I haven’t considered. We had a lot of class debates where we were pretty divided about what is or is not a human right.
How do you plan on using the scholarship?
IA: For the summer voyage, I was thinking of working for an international NGO. As a career, I see myself doing immigration law or human rights law. I’m going to work in a nonprofit in the winter and see if I like it because I’ve only worked in law firms or government-related agencies so far.
Why are you interested in immigration law?
IA: My parents are immigrants, so seeing the way that they’ve navigated a new culture and how they miss their hometowns — it’s not very easy, and people make it seem like it’s very easy for immigrants. Even if they become citizens, no one really wants to leave their hometowns and their families. So I think my interest in immigration is a lot because of them.
