Rising College junior Michael Rockoff received the America 250! Scholarship from the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution last month.
The scholarship — which awarded 10 students $25,000 each — is an “investment in the next generation of American historians,” DAR President General Ginnie Sebastian Storage wrote in a June 17 release. Rockoff, who is majoring in history with a concentration in American history, was the only winner from Penn or from the state of New York.
In a conversation with The Daily Pennsylvanian, Rockoff said he was surprised to find out that he received the scholarship.
“There’s only 10 winners, and it’s not like I went into this like, ‘Oh, I’m definitely going to win,’” he said. “It was a very nice surprise when I saw that I won.”
Rockoff said the scholarship will support his future academic goals, including law school, while allowing him to continue exploring American history.
Applicants for the America 250! Scholarship were required to major in American history at an accredited institution and maintain at least a 3.5 GPA or equivalent, according to the release. They additionally had to submit a one-page essay “either on the founding of our nation or on the applicant’s personal volunteer achievements for community and country.”
For his essay, Rockoff said he conducted a “textual analysis of certain early American history documents” to argue that “the Constitution started the process for the American people to be conceived as one people, thereby kickstarting the process that let America become a nation.”
Rockoff’s interest in American history began early in his education and was influenced by his grandfather, who he said “fostered my love of history.” At Penn, Rockoff has translated that interest into studying the political ideas and institutions that America relies on.
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One Penn class that shaped Rockoff’s historical education was “Hamilton’s America: US History 1776-1804” with history professor Sarah Gronningsater.
In a statement to the DP, Gronningsater wrote that Rockoff “devoted so much energy and curiosity to unraveling the complicated, multi-part story of the nation’s founding” in her class, adding that “his detail-oriented passion for this kind of knowledge is unique.”
“I am thrilled Michael is being celebrated for giving his all to this challenging intellectual process,” she wrote.
Gronningsater is one of the professors who spearheaded the creation of Penn’s Political History concentration, which became available for students in August 2024.
Storage explained in the release that the awards reflect the organization’s commitment to encouraging historical education.
“We see no better way to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary than with these transformative and life-changing scholarships investing in the development of the next generation of American historians who will study our past and help us understand new aspects of the great American story,” Storage wrote.
Although DAR has awarded “close to a total of $250,000 a year to students across the country” historically, the organization has “never provided a singular scholarship of this size,” according to award’s initial announcement.
For Rockoff, the anniversary represents an opportunity to reflect on both the achievements and shortcomings of American history.
“It’s important to celebrate the good, commemorate the bad, and recognize how really incredible it is,” Rockoff said. “The American experiment is truly incredible.”
