Vanderbilt student Max Perry has been awarded the Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service. The award includes participation in a two-year cohort with other scholarship winners. The highlight of the scholarship is the Voyager Summer, six weeks of travel to a place of his choosing. “I truly have an open field to pursue what I’m most interested in,” he says. Perry’s plans are to visit Poland, Germany, and Italy to gain a deeper understanding of the Holocaust.
The scholarship award also includes a $50,000 scholarship, which Perry calls a game changer for him. “To have the burden relieved by the foundation has truly changed my life in more ways than I can describe,” he says. Perry is one of 100 college juniors from 60 institutions nationwide and he is proud to report that there are a total of three students from Vanderbilt who were chosen. “It says a lot about who we are, and our character. That Vanderbilt is a campus of changemakers and public service and people who are dedicated to making the world a better place.”
Perry’s plans for utilizing his scholarship award is three-fold: Holocaust education, civil discourse, and expanding access college for non-traditional students. “My most fervent hope is to continue this throughout my entire life, but in the short term I intend to create curriculum and programming for middle and high school students.”
An overarching goal for Perry is to use Holocaust education as a vehicle for teaching about and encouraging civil discourse. “Vanderbilt has emerged as a leader for civil discourse so to be able to pass on some of the teachings I’ve learned here to people in our region and beyond is a real privilege. But to do so all in the effort to combat antisemitism,” he says.
In addressing the climate on the university campus, Perry says Vanderbilt is also a leader in ensuring it is a safe place for Jewish students. “I have been like most of my Jewish peers, closely following what has been happening for Jewish people throughout the world and specifically on college campuses,” he says. He says at peer universities, many Jewish students feel unsafe and refuse to wear identifying Jewish articles of clothes or jewelry. “But that’s not the reality at Vanderbilt.” As a student tour guide, Perry reports many parents say they feel safer sending their students to Vanderbilt than other top schools.
Additionally, Perry says the university’s policy of principled neutrality goes a long way towards ensuring students feel safe. “First of all it is making sure there are no statements for or against the current conflict. And it also provides an opportunity to hear from people from all sides of the spectrum.”
As for the future, Perry plans to apply to law school. He also has no plans to abandon his mission to combat antisemitism through education, in particular about the Holocaust. “This is not just a Nashville, Tennessee issue, this is a societal issue. So the work is not stopping any time soon.” He hopes the Obama-Chesky scholarship will open his eyes to the possibilities for working within the public sector. “This is a lifelong effort. This is my passion to try to decrease the number of antisemitic incidents in our schools, and to ensure that the next generation does not have to go through what the Jewish students in my generation have had to go through.”
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