Kamundala named finalist for 2022 Truman Scholarship
Crispin Kamundala, a University of Maine junior, was named a finalist for a 2022 Harry S. Truman Scholarship, a prestigious, merit-based scholarship for college juniors pursuing public service careers. Kamundala is the only finalist from Maine this year.
Kamundala’s story isn’t like that of many other students’ on campus. He came to Maine as a teenager from Kenya, where his family was living in a refugee camp in hopes of escaping the corrupt political regime in their home country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He had to learn English in high school — French is his first language — but still managed to take college-level courses in order to graduate early.
Before coming to UMaine, he attended Central Maine Community College for a year to see how he managed with the college workload. He transferred to UMaine for his sophomore year in 2020.
Now, he is a political science major with a minor in legal studies. He is the vice president of the UMaine Pre-Law Society and a member of the National Political Science Honors Society, Pi Sigma Alpha. Kamundala is also an accomplished athlete, competing on UMaine’s track team in triple jump and boxing competitively outside of school. He also works at Abbott Laboratories in Scarborough, where he is a team lead in processing testing kits.
“People ask me, ‘Crispin, how do you do it?’” Kamundala says. “I say, ‘I used to carry cement in Africa. I used to carry cement in my back for a whole day to get $5 a day. I’m used to hard work. I’ve been working hard my whole life.’”
The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation scholarship was created by Congress in 1975 as a living memorial to President Truman and a monument to public service. Recipients can receive up to $30,000 for graduate or professional school, and earn access to leadership development activities and special opportunities for internships and employment with the federal government.
Kamundala applied for the Truman Scholarship with hopes of covering his tuition for law school, which he plans to enter after graduating from the University of Maine next year. He aims to be an immigration lawyer — first, in the United States, but eventually in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He plans to study abroad next semester in Lyon, France to brush up on his modern French legalese for that exact reason.
“My hope is to create a law firm and help immigrants just like me,” Kamundala says. “A lot of people are suffering and my dream is to help people out.”
Finalists from the Truman Scholarship are selected based on their record of community service, government involvement and leadership experience, as well as academic, writing and analytical abilities. Kamundala used what he learned in his UMaine coursework to help him secure a finalist spot for the prestigious scholarship, particularly Introduction to American Law with Ryan LaRochelle and Mediation with Jason Canniff.
For his Truman Scholarship application, he said he used what he learned in those classes to write about police brutality in America and the potential to mediate community conflicts. His leadership and community service experiences were carried out at Maine People’s Alliance and at the African Youth Alliance.
The person that Kamundala says helped him the most during his time at UMaine was Cassandra Belka in TRIO Student Support Services, a federally funded program within College Success Programs that provides personalized support, advising and mentoring to students who are first-generation, income-eligible or have a disability.
“Cassandra Belka is one of the people I have been working with since I started,” Kamundala says. “She looked over my essays, proofread my work, and just helped me with my schoolwork. Being part of the TRIO program helped me a lot.”
The 2022 competition elicited 705 applications from 275 institutions. Kamundala is one of 189 finalists from 126 institutions who will interview virtually with the Foundation’s Regional Review Panels through April 4. The winners will be announced April 15.
Mark Brewer, professor and chair of the Department of Political Science, and Truman campus representative, supported Kamundala’s application, as did the UMaine Office of Major Scholarships, the faculty and community members who wrote recommendation letters and the Writing Center.
To learn more about this and other prestigious national merit-based scholarships, contact Nives Dal Bo-Wheeler, director of the Office of Major Scholarships. nives.dalbowheeler@maine.edu.
Contact: Sam Schipani, samantha.schipani@maine.edu