For Caleb John ’26, leadership has always been rooted in service.

During his time at Samford University, John became known as a thoughtful advocate, campus leader and student deeply committed to justice, faith and civic engagement. A Christian and religious studies major with a minor in race, ethnicity and social justice, John graduated this spring after serving as Student Government Association (SGA) president during the 2025-26 academic year. He was also a selected member of Samford’s Preministerial Scholars program.

As SGA president, John represented more than 4,000 students, led a 185-member organization and worked alongside university leaders on student advocacy, organizational strategy and campus policy.

“Caleb has been an important voice in both our university community as well as the Department of Biblical and Religious Studies,” said Scott McGinnis, professor of biblical and religious studies. “Caleb is inquisitive, forthright and an honest thinker. He has a heart for speaking for the voiceless, both in the past as well as the here and now.”

Lisa Battaglia, professor of biblical and religious studies, said John distinguished himself through his ability to connect scholarship with justice-minded leadership.

“Caleb’s dedication to serving others, his leadership capacity and his overarching commitment to social justice and individual and institutional responsibility have earned him respect and esteem among peers, faculty and administrators,” Battaglia said.

John spent the summer of 2025 serving as chair of the Students Coalition for Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin’s third-term reelection campaign. Working alongside Woodfin, JD ’07, John mobilized young voters and connected residents with civic engagement efforts across Birmingham.

His experience canvassing neighborhoods, speaking with residents and organizing students shaped his understanding of leadership and public service.

“Governance is about solving problems, investing in communities and meeting the needs of constituents,” John said.

That same summer, John completed Harvard University’s Justice course under Michaerl Sandel, exploring moral reasoning, democracy and the modern justice system—themes that shaped John’s people-centered approach to leadership.

One of John’s proudest accomplishments as SGA president was helping complete a project more than 25 years in the making: officially naming and dedicating the historic event space on the ground floor of the University Center as Harry’s Coffeehouse. Named in honor of Harry, an enslaved young Black man at Howard College who lost his life helping save students during a campus fire in 1854, the space now serves as a lasting reminder of an important part of Samford’s history. John helped lead efforts to restore a historical marker and organize a rededication service in Hodges Chapel, culminating in the Samford Board of Trustees Executive Committee unanimously approving the official name of the campus gathering space.

April Robinson, assistant vice president for student development and support, said John’s leadership demonstrated maturity, integrity and professionalism.

“He has demonstrated maturity beyond his years by listening carefully, building consensus, advocating effectively and engaging senior university leadership with confidence and professionalism,” Robinson said.

Before graduating, John earned the James R. Barnette Award for Excellence in Preaching from Samford’s Department of Biblical and Religious Studies. A licensed minister, he is scheduled to preach this summer at several historic churches connected to the civil rights movement across Birmingham and Montgomery, including 16th Street Baptist Church, Bethel Baptist Church and Hutchinson Missionary Baptist Church.

John was selected to present his research project, “Reading Job in Post-Slavery America,” at the 2026 Samford Student Research Colloquia. His work explored how interpretations of suffering shape ethical commitments to justice, restoration and repair in communities affected by systemic harm.

In March, John earned recognition on a regional stage by winning Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.’s Belford V. Lawson Oratorical Competition at the fraternity’s 95th Southern Regional Convention in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The competition is named for Belford V. Lawson Jr., a civil rights activist and the first Black attorney to argue and win a case before the United States Supreme Court. For John, former president of Alpha Phi Alpha’s Tau Iota chapter at Samford, the competition carried deep historical and personal significance.

“This competition is connected to a long lineage of drum majors for justice,” John said.

This year’s theme challenged participants to consider how Alpha Phi Alpha could “reimagine leading the charge to preserve and safeguard democracy.” John’s speech, titled “Unfinished Business: Alpha Pressing Our Way Toward Democracy,” called his generation to pursue justice through civic engagement, scholarship and public service.

“We are not too young to lead,” John said during the speech. “And this is not the time to wait.”

Drawing from the examples of Frederick Douglass, Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King Jr. and Lawson, John connected the fraternity’s legacy to the broader struggle for civil rights and democratic participation.

“Scholarship, in this hour, is not just a degree,” John said in the speech. “It is a defense of freedom.”

Now, John is carrying that same commitment to justice-seeking into his next chapter.

This summer, he will work as a legal assistant with Wiggins Childs Pantazis Fisher Goldfarb, a national plaintiff’s law firm known for its work in civil rights and employment litigation. He will work in the firm’s Birmingham and Washington, D.C., offices, supporting Mobley v. Workday, a groundbreaking case arguing that artificial intelligence hiring tools discriminated against applicants based on race, sex, age and disability. In addition to this role, he will serve as a congressional intern for U.S. Rep. Terri A. Sewell.

John will participate in Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law D.C. Leadership Academy, a national program focused on leadership at the intersection of law and public policy.

In the fall, he plans to pursue a Master of Divinity at Howard University. Looking ahead, John hopes to pursue formal legal training and continue using law and ministry as tools for advocacy and community transformation. “I am continuing to prepare for a vocation confronting suffering, inequality and the ongoing realities of racial and economic injustice,” John said.

As he leaves Samford, John’s path reflects the same themes that defined his time on campus. He has joined the Birmingham chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, founded by King, and plans to continue his work in ministry, civic engagement and public service in the years ahead.

Graduation is not a departure from the work John began at Samford. It is a continuation.