hey there, angels. it’s time you learn the rule of the game. that is… what a kennedy wants, a kennedy gets.
the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. so does the devil hanging low from its branches.
Carmen Kennedy St James was born at exactly 6:23 A.M. PST on 7 January 2004 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, as the second child and only daughter of Caroline Kennedy, then Governor of California, and businessman Alexander St James. Her mother became pregnant with her just shortly after her inauguration as Governor, which led to her birth becoming an unofficial but not any less loved state affair, with the media, therefore, fondly dubbing her as America’s Angel.
The newborn was widely celebrated and has appeared to grace the front cover of TIME magazine as “God's Grace”. The Bishop of Sacramento, Most Rev. Jaime Soto, baptized her at the baptismal font of Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament on 1 March, and she was named Carmen Jacqueline Therese; Jacqueline, after her great grandmother, and Therese, after her maternal grandmother.
Since she was all but a babe, family and close friends refer to her as CJ, sometimes shortened to Ceej, after her initials. Fondly, her grandparents have resorted to calling her Carmy, which only they were given permission by her to use. In school, she’s almost explicitly addressed as Kennedy, which (very obviously) has stuck despite its connotations.
dream a little dream of me. there’s no escaping your fate once i sealed the deal. ’tis quite the nightmare, no?
Like most kids, Carmen possessed the keen ability of fleeting through interests in the speed of light, let's just say. From earning her golden wings bearing a Cdr. before her name, to developing a cure-all for mankind, to being a friend of the wild, and to walking the runway; she cycled through the desires of her heart just as quickly as they came.
But when and where it mattered, she always, always, came back to one.
On her preparatory graduation, little Carmen, aged 4, class valedictorian and honor awardee, with a wide-toothed grin and glimmering eyes, proclaimed, “When I grow up, I want to be the president!”
Uh-oh.
After all, she spent her formative years learning at the foot of her mother, who served the state of California for two terms as governor before being elected as a United States Senator from California’s Democratic Party in 2012. It was, simply put, expected of her that she would lead one day. Being the second-born did not exactly relieve her of these duties. The weight of it lingers and the question begs itself to be answered: How would she live up to the family name?
uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. careful, K. don't forget to keep that pretty head on your shoulders.
What better time is there to kickstart your lifelong political career than in high school?
In Los Angeles, there are five schools generally considered to be the crème de la crème: Mira Costa, Marlborough, Immaculate Heart, Harvard-Westlake, and Sierra Canyon. Kids of the opulent and the renowned, from politicians to the names you see on the streets of Hollywood Boulevard, only ever attend either of the five. If you want in, these are the places to be.
Kennedy’s choice? Mira Costa. Why, you might ask? Three words, eighteen letters — Model United Nations.
But that wasn’t to be until after lower middle school. While that milestone simmered in the distance, she had a government of her own to create and run. It took her a month to establish a decorum, another to set it in stone, and three more to loop the city in. By the time she was done, her seat lay at the very top of the socio-academic food chain of greater and downtown LA.
At Yale, the status quo changed entirely and Kennedy swapped the country boards and lengthy position papers that make one’s eyes bleed for the Secretariat; starting off as Director General at the National Model United Nations (NMUN) in 2021, and ending as Secretary General at the WFUNA International Model United Nations (WIMUN) in Geneva last 2025.
During the second quarter of 2025, Kennedy finished in the top 5% of their class, earning the distinction of summa cum laude, in Ethics, Politics, and Economics, and was henceforth given the The James Andrew Haas Prize for her exemplification of moral commitment and rigor to providing leadership for her fellow and underclassmen. She has also received the prestigious hat trick of Senior Awards: The Roosevelt L. Thompson Prize, The William H. McKim Prize, and The David Everett Chantler (B.A. 1910) Award.
At present, she’s pursuing a joint degree combining Juris Doctor and Master of Public Policy (JD/MPP) at Stanford Law School Class of 2029.
