Hi! I’m Veronica Sanjurjo, a proud member of the Baldwin Scholars Class of 2025. I grew up in Miami and graduated from Duke with a B.A. in History and minors in Political Science and Spanish.
I’m fascinated by the ways law, history, and policy shape both societies and individual lives. At Duke, I found plenty of ways to follow that curiosity. My thesis examined the legal and ideological foundations of the Page Act of 1875, one of the earliest federal immigration restrictions. At Duke Law’s Wilson Center for Science and Justice, I researched custodial interrogation policies, public understandings of Miranda rights, and coercive practices in policing. I also did archival research with the History Department tracing the social and political forces behind the rise of the Latinx conservative movement and spent a semester in Madrid studying Spanish and European politics and culture.
Some of my most meaningful Duke experiences happened outside of academics. As Executive Coordinator of Kesem at Duke, I helped lead a free summer camp for children affected by a parent’s cancer. As Executive Producer of All of the Above, I helped create a space for women at Duke to share their experiences through anonymously submitted monologues. Baldwin was an anchor for me throughout college. My cohort was a community of incredibly driven people who were also still figuring themselves out, and there was something very freeing about that. We could be ambitious and vulnerable at the same time. Baldwin helped break down the pressure of “effortless perfection” that can be so easy to internalize in college.
After Duke, I returned home to Miami and worked in immigration law before moving to New York to begin law school at Columbia. I’m excited to keep following the questions that interest me, discover new ones, and see where they take me.