Author: Ben DeLuca
Three weeks ago, Diplomacy and World Affairs major Fay Walker (junior) received the coveted Harry S. Truman Scholarship. The scholarship awards $30,000 dollars in funding toward Walker’s graduate school education. Walker hopes to attend Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs to study International Affairs with a specialization in urban planning and gender.
“When I heard back about the scholarship I was really in shock,” Walker said. The process for receiving a Truman Scholarship is highly competitive as Walker was one of two National Finalists from Occidental vying for the scholarship. The foundation awarded the scholarship to 54 students out of this year’s almost 600 applicants nationwide.
“We recognize college juniors with exceptional leadership potential who are committed to careers in government, the nonprofit or advocacy sectors, education or elsewhere in the public service,” the Truman Scholarship Foundation’s website said.
Jennifer Kyle, a 2006 winner, was the last Truman scholar from Occidental. Other 2012 winners came from Yale University, United States Military Academy and Claremont McKenna College, among others.
Walker, a New York native currently studying abroad in Thailand, started a recycling program in Kyrgyzstan, where she went to high school. She recently won a Richter Scholarship to study key female political figures in Argentina. More locally, she was a proprietary resident of Occidental’s Food Justice House.
“I am overjoyed for Fay, this couldn’t have happened to a better person,” politics Professor and Truman Scholarship advisor Caroline Heldman said. “This is great for the institution and great for Fay.”
At a session for prospective applicants to the Truman Scholarship last Wednesday, Professor Heldman discussed the rigors and competitiveness of the application process.
“The Truman Scholarship is not for dabblers,” Heldman said to a roomful of sophomores and a few first-years aspiring to be awarded the Truman Scholarship. “It’s not for someone who went to the soup kitchen twice last month. It’s for leaders.”
The typical GPA of a Truman scholar ranges between a 3.6-3.8 but can often be higher, Heldman said.
“The application process was not as bad as I thought it would be,” Walker said. Walker received advice from several advisors and participated in multiple mock interviews to prepare for what is widely considered the most difficult step in the application.
“The interviewers can be evil,” Heldman said. “They love to try and trip you up. It can be nasty.”
1994 Truman scholar Professor Horacio Trujillo also acted as an advisor to Walker throughout the process.
“I received far less of this type of structured support,” Trujillo said. “We didn’t have mock interviews or writing coaches.”
Professor Trujillo will join professor Heldman in the coming years as an advisor to future Truman scholarship applicants. Walker plans to get her master’s degree and then move to Bangladesh to work on environmental and gender issues. She will conduct research and engage in activism with women on development issues.
“Winning the Truman Scholarship has more value than just the funding for graduate school,” Occidental’s Assistant Director for National Awards Suzanne Pramov said. “This brings Fay into the network of Truman alums, which is going to be very helpful. She is part of the Truman family.”
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