McDermott wins coveted Voyager Scholarship for Public Service

The University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Luke McDermott, a first-generation student from Omaha, has been awarded a 2024-26 Voyager Scholarship, the Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service. McDermott is a political science, economics and history major and University Honors Program member who is also working toward a Certificate in Public Policy Analysis.

The Voyager Scholarship was created by former President Barack Obama, former first lady Michelle Obama and Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, to support U.S. college juniors and seniors pursuing public service leadership careers. The scholarship provides:

• Up to $50,000 in financial aid (up to $25,000 per year in “last dollar” financial aid for the recipient’s junior and senior years); 
• a $10,000 stipend and free Airbnb housing to undertake a self-designed Summer Voyage, occurring between the recipient’s junior and senior years;
• and access to mentoring networks, including an annual summit, speaker series and global alumni community. 

The 2024-26 Voyager Scholarship cohort includes 100 students from 44 states and territories, representing 88 colleges and universities nationwide.

With coaching from mentors and inspiration from fellow Voyagers at the annual summit, McDermott will design his own Summer Voyage for 2025. He intends to focus on meeting workers and labor organizers in different regions of the United States. Through immersion in local communities and cultures of labor, he will learn how their perspectives on labor issues and policy matters may vary. 

“I am grateful to the Obama Foundation and Brian Chesky for this life-changing opportunity and for their commitment to making public service careers more accessible,” McDermott said.

McDermott will bring experience with analyzing varied perspectives on legal and constitutional matters to his Summer Voyage. As a 2023-24 Undergraduate Creative Activities and Research Experiences student researcher at Nebraska, he encoded historical habeas corpus cases of marginalized peoples as part of the Digital Legal Research Lab, mentored by Katrina Jagodinsky, Susan J. Rosowski Associate Professor of history.

McDermott also has an extensive service record on campus, including roles as external vice president of the Association of Students of the University of Nebraska and chair of the Husker Vote Coalition, a nonpartisan civic engagement organization that hosts voter registration drives. In July, his leadership with the coalition was recognized with a $5,000 Alan Davis Scholarship from the National Association for Campus Activities.

Off-campus, McDermott has also gained experience with policy analysis and constituent perspectives at various levels of government, through service as a Nebraska Unicameral legislative page, a Henry Clay College Student Congress Delegate for Nebraska, and a Victory Institute Congressional intern with Congressman Adam Schiff. In May, McDermott received a Key into Public Service Scholarship from the Phi Beta Kappa Society, and in August, he was named a Reagan Civic Leaders Fellow by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute and was one of 30 students invited to the PPIA Public Service Weekend at Georgetown’s McCourt School of Public Policy.

After graduation, McDermott intends to pursue a joint degree in law, such as Juris Doctor/Master of Public Policy or Juris Doctor/Master of Public Administration, focusing on labor and employment law and legal history.

At Nebraska, the Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships advises and nominates undergraduate candidates for 30 supported scholarships and fellowships. To learn more, students and campus community members should contact Courtney Santos, director of undergraduate research and fellowships, at courtney.santos@unl.edu.