Robert Colton ’15 may not be a name known to many, but his story is one that should be. From graduating Archbishop Riordan High School, to attending Whitman College, to now attending University of Washington School of Law, Colton’s experience is remarkable.
Even though Colton only attended Riordan for his senior year as a member of the boarding program, he described the community as “(becoming) my family away from home for the year.” An experience some boarding students may empathize with, the staff and students at Riordan really helped build his experience as a student.
Being a dual Lativian-Australian citizen from Latvia, the shift from living in Latvia to living in the United States was one Colton described as “certainly a culture shock!” Throughout his first few months living as a boarding student at Riordan, Colton experienced homesickness as his family was thousands of miles away.
Faced with this hardship, he was not alone as Colton built on his experience with homesickness: “The boarding staff and my basketball coaches (being) instrumental in helping ease the initial transition and making me feel at home.”
Along with that, Colton’s roommate, Karim Ndiaye, bonded with him over the shared feeling of being away from home, and thanked Mary, Sean, and Jerry Finley, as they built his newfound community away from home.
This wasn’t Colton’s only hardship when faced with coming to Riordan. Before that, there was another block in the road.
“The immigration system can be complicated and I had to learn how to operate within it at a relatively young age. This wasn’t always easy and I dealt with significant upheaval during my freshman year at community colleges in the Bay Area—losing access to promised scholarships and subsequently facing housing insecurity and associated difficulties,” said Colton.
This experience may not be one that all international boarding students may have to face, but the image of having to navigate through the legal and immigration system is nerve wracking and frightening, especially for someone at such a young age like Colton was.
Having teachers such as Jeff Isola, who was teaching U.S. History and U.S. Government at the time, really allowed Colton to discover his passion to pursue a career in politics and attend law school in the future.
After graduating from Riordan, Colton attended Whitman College on a basketball scholarship, while double majoring in economics and politics. From college came law school at University of Washington School of Law, where Colton is currently studying.
During his career as an aspirant in politics, Colton experienced the opportunity to work for U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, one key memory being the moment after he attended the Joe Biden and Donald Trump debate.
Colton continued, “It’s the mark of a leader that she was kind and supportive while modeling how we should proceed. I distinctly remember her reminding us to focus and block out the noise because at the end of the day ‘we have a job to do—to represent our constituents and the American people and so let’s get to work and get it done.’”
Due to his work with Warren, the knowledge and admiration he gained for her was one that still sticks to him, through philosophy and memories.
Colton ended with a few final words of advice for students at Archbishop Riordan, spanning from taking risks to seeing to one’s full potential.
Colton advised, “We are all living in a strange new world, full of unique challenges and unprecedented changes. Our generation will be tasked with shaping this world and as cliche as it sounds, that’s only possible if people dare to be bold and dream big.”
