Each year colleges across the U.S. can nominate up to four juniors who are eligible to apply for the Truman Scholarship, which awards approximately 60 applicants who are committed to careers in public service and who exhibit leadership skills with up to $30,000 for graduate education. The tough competition across the nation led to only one DU student making the cut for nominations.

Laura Newman, a junior earning a BS in Business Administration for Economics from Lakewood, sent in her academic progress report and preliminary essay, the criteria to be nominated for the scholarship in late November 2012 when she was abroad in Belgium. Since most students are abroad during the fall quarter of their junior year at DU, it is common for them to go through the application process without going in for a formal interview.

Newman found out she was nominated for the scholarship on Nov. 21 when DU made the announcement via email and posted it to the Truman Scholarship website.

“We chose her before we even met her,” said Debbie Sheanin, Manager of Student Services and Administration for the Institute for Public Policy Studies. She is responsible for nominating students for the scholarship.

According to Sheanin, when looking for a student to nominate they look for someone who demonstrates dedication to public service, leadership and academic success.

During her time at DU, Newman has been very involved on campus and has dedicated herself to volunteer work. She was a freshman orientation leader fall of 2011, the president of Social Brink last year, a student organization for anyone interested in social entrepreneurship, and a leader for the Ethics Boot Camp, which teaches students how to make ethical decisions during a two-day intense boot camp.

Newman also created the organization CANBE and launched the site last April. This organization helps connect students and nonprofits. One unique element is that CANBE focuses on the skills of students and compares them with the skills and resources needed by nonprofits to make the perfect match. Anyone can go to youcanb.org and create an account to find nonprofits that can utilize their skills. The website is managed mainly by Newman and currently has 70 local nonprofits in its database.

Newman has also volunteered at Café 180 since her freshman year, doing marketing work and development plans for the organization centered around the motto “eat what you want, pay what you can” Café 180 allows customers to pay what they can for food, including one hour of service at the restaurant.

“She is the overall package,” said Sheanin. “She exhibits all the criteria, her grades are stellar and she has taken the initiative to create different programs.”

The next step for Newman is to send in her application, likely this week. As part of the application, she was asked to write a policy proposal where she developed a strategy for graduate school and her career after. As part of this proposal, Newman talked about how she would like to reassess food aid to third-world countries. Currently, when third-world countries are in need of food, instead of sending money, the U.S. buys the food from our stores at American prices and sends it to the country, which leaves the market for farmers non-existent.

“We have a good intention,” said Newman. “But we are doing more harm than good.”

She suggests that instead of sending American food at American rates to third-world countries, we buy the food directly from the country to help sustain their farmers market and their economy.

The Truman Scholarship also requires its scholars to complete three years of civil service within seven years of receiving the scholarship. Newman’s end goal is to work for World Bank. The purpose of this bank is to reduce global poverty by giving loans and promote development in areas such as Asia, Africa and Latin America.

“I want to initiate reform,” said Newman, referring to World Bank’s involvement in other countries. “They have the most potential to create global change it just is not being utilized yet.”

As part of World Bank, Newman hopes to lead and design development programs. This means actually getting on the ground and involving the people by talking directly to them about their needs and what can be done to meet those needs.

“I don’t just want to sit behind a desk all day,” said Newman.

DU does not typically nominate four students for this scholarship, although four nominations are allowed.
“The reason why we only chose one nominee this year was because we didn’t feel that the other applicants were either strong candidates, or didn’t feel that they were a good fit for the scholarship in general.

The actual application process for nominees is lengthy and time-consuming, and if we don’t think the applicant has a high chance of making it to the next round (interviews), there’s no reason to waste their time,” said Sheanin.

Newman plans to graduate early in November 2013 and then pursue a MA in International Development. Her top choices for graduate school are DU and American University. She will find out if she made it to the interview round of the application process on Feb. 24. If she makes it to the final round, she will find out if she receives the scholarship on April 11.

The Truman Scholarship is in memory of the 33rd President, Harry S. Truman, who was devoted to both education and public service. Instead of honoring him with a monumental structure, an Act of Congress approved this scholarship in 1975.

“It is a really great honor to be nominated for the Truman Scholarship,” said Newman. “It is a little intimidating though because I feel like I am representing DU.”