Elijah Jenkins
Elijah Jenkins
Elijah Jenkins is an African American and Indigenous CHamoru from Chandler, Arizona, studying at the University of Chicago. He is a two-time elected Student Body President, Stamps Scholar, Pamela Harriman Fellow, and a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Elijah’s work centers on diplomacy, development, and the political futures of the Pacific.
His commitment to public service began in Arizona, where he co-founded African American Reconstruction, a youth-led organization focused on political education and community support. He later joined the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Service Internship Program. In Washington, D.C., he worked in EAP/ANP supporting foreign assistance in the Pacific and then served at the U.S. Embassy in Koror, Palau, contributing to both local and broader Pacific engagement.
Elijah has advanced policy work through Right to Democracy and UChicago Law’s Global Human Rights Clinic, supporting political-status education across the U.S. territories and efforts to protect yo’åmte CHamoru healers, whose ancestral practices face growing constraints from militarization. His BA/MA thesis, More Than a Territory: Youth, Decolonization, and the Future of Guåhan, examines how Guåhan youth imagine sovereign futures to envision a Pacific shaped through agency and equal partnership.
As a Marshall Scholar, Elijah will pursue an MSt in Imperial History at Oxford and an MPhil in Development Studies at Cambridge. He aims to build a career in international law and diplomacy that strengthens U.S.–UK cooperation in the Pacific and shapes engagement that is accountable, sustainable, and grounded in Pacific agency.