Xavier University earns first ever Truman scholars

By Brynnan Smith
Contributing Writer

Aarinii Parms-Green and Keziah-Yvonne Smith are juniors at Xavier University of Louisiana studying political science and aspiring to work in public service. On April 20, they were chosen as two of the 54 Truman Scholars for 2025, making history as the first Xavier students to win the award, as well as the only two HBCU students to be selected for 2025.

A Truman Scholar is the most prestigious American award for undergraduates, named after President Harry S. Truman, and is given to college students who exemplify extraordinary excellence in leadership, public service and academic achievements. For these qualities, Truman scholars receive an investment into their future with funding through the Truman Foundation to a graduate program of their choosing.

Parms-Green, a Baton Rouge native, was selected as the Truman Scholar for the state of Louisiana, while Smith was selected as the Truman Scholar for the state of Connecticut where she is a resident. For Parms-Green and Smith, the recognition from the Truman Foundation not only acknowledges their hard work in their classroom, but a culmination of the public service work they have done their entire lives.

“I like to joke that my first job was working the polls when I was 4 years old for the 2008 election,” Smith said, who grew up in Missouri canvassing for President Barack Obama as a toddler. Her work in public service and social justice projects continued to blossom throughout her youth and led her to her current work around voting rights for the formerly incarcerated while at Xavier.

Over the last three years at Xavier, Smith said she has made it her goal to educate, inform and provide information on all things voting. She has done this work by partnering with local organizations in New Orleans like Voice of The Experience, a non-profit organization focused on mobilizing voters across the state, as well as being a student advocate on campus during election season in November.

Public service has always come naturally to Smith. From serving the Obama campaign as a diligent poll agent at 4, to working for voter advocacy on her college campus, Smith has always looked to change her community through public service and outreach. Now, being a Truman Scholar, Smith said she looks to only further continue her social justice work and public service with the network and support this prestigious award will provide.

“The biggest thing that Truman is giving me beyond the scholarship [is] just being in an area and in a space with so many other dedicated scholars and people who are dedicated to public service,” Smith said.

Parms-Green has been dedicated to public service in a very similar way to Smith’s.

As a Louisiana native, Parms-Green has served and worked with the Mayor’s Office in Baton Rouge in youth workforce development as a teen long before reaching Xavier’s campus. Parms-Green co-founded two initiatives to address rising racism and anti-Semitism by white supremacist rhetoric, which was cited as a model student initiative by the Biden-Harris White House. She has spoken nationally and internationally on the work she is doing to combat rising forms of hate and targeted violence in communities. Service has always meant more than just volunteering to Parts-Green, it is a commitment to her community.

“Public service to me means I’m serving, giving back to my community, who has poured so much into me,” Parms-Green said. She also spoke of the unselfish nature needed to be a public servant.

“It means giving a lot to my community knowing that there is a possibility that I might not, you know, receive as much back in return,” she added.

In becoming a Truman Scholar, the service that she has put in her whole life has come full circle.

“As a Louisiana native, the impact that I have on my community is great, but I know that it can be so much greater. I have the opportunity because of the Truman scholarship. I really do believe in having that impact when you outsource the information and bring it back to your community to help uplift others,” Parms-Green said.

Xavier is the only HBCU to have two students selected as Truman Scholars this year. Other schools to receive multiple Truman Scholars include universities like Harvard University and Yale University.

Past Truman Scholars have gone on to become congressional senators and representatives, judges and governors. Among the most prominent HBCU Truman Scholars is former Georgia gubernatorial candidate and State Rep. Stacey Abrams, who earned a Truman scholarship while she was a student at Spelman College.

With the power of the Truman scholarship, both Xavier students said they look to advance their educations at Ivy League schools including Harvard and Columbia universities and earn their law degrees in the future. They will also continue to advocate for social change and work as diligent public servants as they go through their senior years at Xavier.

“It isn’t about me, none of this work that I’m doing is about me. It’s about our community and creating a better society,” Smith said.

This article originally published in the April 28, 2025 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.