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Award-winning education graduate making most of his opportunities
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By Jim Carlson
ince his days as an education and public policy major in Penn State’s College of Education, Elijah Armstrong has interned for a U.S. Senator and a Colorado congressman, earned a master’s degree from Harvard, received the Paul G. Hearne Emerging Leader Award and founded a scholarship for students with disabilities. He believes his current appointment as a fellow with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBC) in Washington, D.C., ultimately will enable him to help more people. Translation, the young activist is just getting started. The genesis of his advocacy role stems from his days in a Florida college preparatory school that refused to accommodate his needs when his photosensitive epileptic reaction to flashing lights in a school classroom continued to make him ill and force multiple hospitalizations. He hasn’t stopped standing up for those with disabilities since. Armstrong started a No Hate Penn State organization in 2017 designed to create a Penn State experience that is safe and inclusive for all students. He also had a hand in developing Equal Opportunities for Students, a student-led national organization that deals with educational equity and promotes civil rights in education that is in conjunction with the American Association of People with Disabilities. “Obviously, this was something I was hoping for and worked really hard for, but I had no idea that this was going to be the way that it turned out. Having the support of professors during my time at Penn State really helped me to get
4 Penn State Education
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Elijah Armstrong has found a home in the heart of Washington, D.C., where he has an appointment as a fellow with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. Armstrong is an activist who stands up for people with disabilities.
to where I am now,” Armstrong said, citing education professors Dana Mitra and Mimi Schaub and agricultural sciences professor Mark Brennan as a few who provided valuable assistance. “Elijah connects his keen intellect with the use of personal narratives to help to make policy
issues compelling,” said Mitra, professor of education (education policy studies). “He also seeks out opportunities and makes the most of each one, so that his influence builds and he continues to learn and share his wisdom with others.” Armstrong checks a lot of other boxes, too, Mitra said. “Elijah is
