Miami student receives Ronald Reagan Institute Civic Leaders Fellowship
Farmer is one of 25 students across nation to receive fellowship
Miami student receives Ronald Reagan Institute Civic Leaders Fellowship
Jacob Farmer is double majoring in Economics and Business Analytics. He’s in the Miami University Honors College and the FSB Honors Program. This summer, he was an intern at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
So, it may come as a surprise to those who don’t know him that Farmer’s interests also include something that doesn’t always pop up in a business student’s profile: Civics.
“I've always been interested in public policy, specifically public service -- not necessarily politics, not necessarily going to D.C, not necessarily passing legislation on Capitol Hill, but giving back to my community and serving my people,” he said. “Specifically, tangible policy that I can see impacts the people around me.”
You can see Farmer’s civics interest in his other activities over the last few years: intern at Rep. Warren Davidson’s office, precinct official for the Butler County Board of Elections – and now, one of 25 college students across the nation to receive a Ronald Reagan Institute Civic Leaders Fellowship.
"This recognition is a well-earned and well-deserved honor for Jacob, but it merely confirms what all of us who have been fortunate to work with him here at Miami, the Federal Reserve, or on Capitol Hill already know about him,” said Zeb Baker, dean of the Honors College. “Jacob has proven himself to be a modest yet confident problem solver, a leader whose orientation is always directed toward finding common ground and commonsense solutions for even the most nettlesome of issues. He is a natural leader, whose optimism and can-do determination are a tonic in an age otherwise marked by cynicism and impasse."
The Ronald Reagan Institute Civic Leaders Fellowship is a six-month leadership and professional development program designed to elevate student success in civic and professional life. The fellowship utilizes a combination of hybrid- and place-based learning at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California and the Ronald Reagan Institute in Washington, D.C. Farmer learned about the fellowship from Baker and Levi Grimm, a Farmer School alum who was part of the initial Ronald Reagan Institute Civics Fellowship cohort in 2022-23.
“First thing I did was go tell my parents. Then I told Dr. Baker, and then I think Dr. Baker told everybody else. So, there was a lot of excitement and a lot of gratitude, and I just sat with it for a minute,” he said.
“I think the idea is to create a cohort of dedicated and committed leaders across of students across the nation, to share perspectives and to create a dialog amongst peers of all walks of life, different political ideologies, different backgrounds, to just really strengthen civic life and civic engagement in America, especially in the youth, to drive change,” Farmer said. “I study economics and business analytics and I’m kind of focusing more on the applied side of economic monetary policy.”
Farmer said that he’s excited to get started. “I want to go to D.C., and I want to go to California, and I want to sit on the Zoom calls and the webinars, to learn and grow and really develop as a leader,” he said. “I want to learn how can we get our community engaged civically, building everybody up together as one unified community.”
Especially that California part.
“I've never been to California, and the opportunity to go out to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library is exciting to me. It's somewhere I've never been. I've traveled a lot, but I've never made it that far west, and I think it will be really cool to go see it,” he said. “What a blessing it is to have this opportunity, and what an honor it is to be able to represent Miami, and to represent Oxford, and to represent my home and my family on such a grand stage.”
