Quinn Allred, a government major at Dartmouth College, was named a John Robert Lewis Scholar by the Faith and Politics Institute, according to an announcement on April 7. Allred is one of five students nationwide selected for the 2026-2027 program, which aims to identify emerging leaders in social and political change.
The recognition highlights Allred’s advocacy for young people interested in public service. The Faith and Politics Institute’s Scholars and Fellows program brings together students who are committed to positive change, continuing the legacy of civil rights leader John Lewis.
Allred is the founder and executive director of Let Us Lead, a nonprofit student organization established at Dartmouth in 2024 that works to bridge power imbalances between youth and politics. The group now operates on 19 campuses across 12 states. As part of his scholarship award, Allred will participate in a civil rights pilgrimage to Selma as well as visits to significant sites in Washington, D.C., including the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Reflecting on Lewis’s influence, Allred said: “I think he was trying to inspire every person to do that work, and to dedicate their lives to it, and to make it the essence of humanity, and to make it the essence of our connection to each other.”
Allred has also received a Richard D. Lombard ’53 Public Service Fellowship from Dartmouth’s Dickey Center for International Understanding and Center for Social Impact. Before coming to Dartmouth as a first-year student, he underwent cancer treatment but said that experience motivated him further: “Chemo cured both the cancer and my need to live my life how anyone else would want me to live it.”
Pamela Voekel, associate professor at Dartmouth College, praised Allred’s character: “Congressman Lewis lived a courageous and dignified life. Quinn’s actions reveal a superabundance of both of these traits…he proved himself to be a true intellectual whose enthusiasm for intellectual life pulled others in his wake.” Anna Mahoney from the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center added that Allred’s “capacity to listen and connect with others will serve him well as he pursues the training the fellowship has to offer.”
