Peyson Bilimoria

  

Volume 9 | Issue III | September 2025

Commonwealth School ’25

Massachusetts, United States

University of Michigan–Ann Arbor ’29

  

I’ve always loved reading about civilizations and their decisions. In middle school, it was books about ancient societies; from the Citizens’ Assemblies of the Roman Republic to Ancient Persia’s standardized coinage. In high school, my reading turned to modern diplomacy, where each nation has its own policies and values. Whether it’s reading today’s New York Times articles or Herodotus’ Histories, drawing information from all perspectives, new and old, is how I try to serve my fascination with how people and societies interact. Writing a research paper gave me the framework I needed to take these comparisons and perspectives and analyze them through both a policy and historical lens. As someone with Persian ancestry, I was immediately drawn to the history surrounding the complicated relationship between the US and Iran. But what really inspired me was the US’s recent declassifications of documents surrounding their involvement in Iran, particularly the 1953 Iranian Coup. The opportunity to be the first to try to add these new perspectives to the way we talk about the history of the US’s involvement in the Coup is the heart of what made the process of writing this paper the most engaging. At my high school, I was deeply involved in clubs such as Model UN and founded our AAPI affinity group. Outside of academics, I enjoy running and cooking, and am also an avid soccer fan.