GRANBY — Dressed in a blue sportscoat, white shirt and bright orange tie, Eric Tarpinian-Jachym asked his mother to put an American flag as the background of his sixth-grade school photo.
“He’s smiling, and he said, ‘I’m going to be the president one day,'” Tamara Tarpinian said. “He goes, ‘Someday I will be, and I’m gonna make changes. I’m gonna change the world, Mom.’ I really think that stuck with him.”
Tarpinian-Jachym never got to the White House. While interning for a congressman on Capitol Hill, the 21-year-old University of Massachusetts Amherst student was killed in a drive-by shooting in Washington, D.C., on June 30, 2025. He died in the hospital the next day.
His death made national news twice: once after the crime, and again when President Donald Trump announced the National Guard would deploy to Washington, D.C., to curb crime.
“[Washington] D.C. was rocked by this,” Tarpinian said. “The community where it happened. The community of D.C. in general. People … just people.”
A year later, Tarpinian-Jachym’s legacy looms larger than a handful of headlines. Tarpinian has ensured other undergraduate students will enjoy the same opportunities as her son through the Eric Tarpinian-Jachym Memorial Scholarship. The fund pays for programs run by the Washington, D.C.-based, government education nonprofit, The Fund for American Studies (TFAS), including the fellowship Tarpinian-Jachym completed prior to his congressional internship.
“He loved D.C. and TFAS is a great organization,” Tarpinian said. “That’s why I said, ‘Why don’t we donate money there?’ So someone like Eric can have that opportunity — one that opened doors for Eric that I don’t think would have ever opened for him.”
Connection in D.C.
TFAS was created in 1967 by Charles Edison, former governor of New Jersey and son of Thomas Edison, in response to the counterculture movement. The organization partners with universities across the world to teach philosophies of limited government, free-market economics and personal freedoms.
During his TFAS Washington D.C. Fellowship, Tarpinian-Jachym spent a semester studying at George Mason University, interning with a political action committee and building professional networks.
Because her son loved the experience so much, Tarpinian reached out to TFAS President Rodger Ream to create a memorial scholarship for the D.C. program — a request Ream was happy to oblige.
“His family said he [Tarpinian-Jachym] just really loved his experience in our program, it was really meaningful in his education,” Ream said. “There’s nothing worse that losing one of your children. I just want to help any way I could.”
There were 1,500 applications for 285 spots in the Summer 2026 TFAS Academic Internship Program this year, Ream said. Eighty-five percent of accepted students receive partial or full financial aid. One of those students, Benedict Segrest, accepted the first-ever Eric Tarpinian-Jachym Scholarship.
A rising junior at Cornell University, Segrest is the treasurer for his clubs and serves on the Cornell Catholic student service team. When Tarpinian read Segrest’s resume, she could hear her son’s voice telling her to pick Segrest.
“I thought Benedict’s resume was like Eric’s,” she said. “They had similar interests, and I felt that Benedict would get a lot out of the program.”
Teenage stock broker
At a Hampton Pond fishing festival honoring Tarpinian-Jachym, Gov. Maura Healey presented Tarpinian with her son’s posthumous UMass diploma and Governor’s Citation. Tarpinian-Jachym was an avid fisherman and environmentalist who would often go out into the water with his father and a few friends.
“Eric brought people together through his love of fishing, the outdoors and community, and today we are honoring that spirit in a way that reflects who he was,” Healey said in a statement. “This event is about celebrating Eric’s life by helping more people experience the joy, connection and peace that can come from spending time outside and learning something new alongside family and friends. We are deeply grateful to Eric’s family for allowing us to honor his memory in such a meaningful way.”
In addition to fishing, Tarpinian-Jachym had developed a passion for finance in high school. Quietly, he became the secret stock broker in the school, and eventually started an investment club. Tarpinian recalls her son and husband meeting at Dunkin’ after school to discuss stock trading.
“He just had a knack, and he had a way about him that I think left an impression on the people in TFAS and people on Capitol Hill,” Tarpinian said.
A gentleman and a scholar
Money was his first interest, but politics was also a big part of Tarpinian-Jachym’s studies. Tarpinian-Jachym was majoring in finance at UMass Amherst Isenberg School of Business and minoring in political science. A libertarian at heart, he loved to debate and learn from people across religious, ethnic and political backgrounds.
“Our staff and his classmates talked about how outgoing he was,” Ream said. “He was inquisitive and got fully engaged in the programs and took a passion for Washington, D.C. and the political process. I think that’s what drove him to come back the following summer.”
Tarpinian believes it was his intelligence and extroverted personality that drew people to her son. A week before his death, he charmed fellow Armenians at a mixer and secured a spot in the Armenian National Committee of America’s Hovig Apo Saghdejian Capitol Gateway Program. He even knocked on doors until he landed his internship with U.S. Rep. Ron Estes, R-Kansas.
“Eric was a bright, dedicated student whose passion for public service left an indelible mark on our office,” Estes said in a statement. “While we still deeply feel his loss, we take comfort in knowing that his legacy sparked critical crime reform that has helped protect millions of visitors and workers in our nation’s capital.”
As of October 2025, three suspects had been arrested in connection to Taripinan-Jaychm’s death. The trial is scheduled to begin in February 2027.
Inside letters from his wake, Tarpinian reads how the world will remember her son: a good cook, a caring listener, a twinkle in his eye and an infectious smile.
“I miss that smile,” Tarpinian said.
