Last month (May 27-30, 2010), more than two dozen Scholars traveled to Missouri from around the country to take part in the 2010 Truman Scholars Reunion Weekend & 20th Anniversary Celebration of Truman Scholars Leadership Week.

This Reunion was an opportunity to strengthen the Truman Scholar community, celebrate our paths to public service, and honor the legacy of President Truman.

It was especially heartening for me to see that this event attracted Scholars from the inaugural class of 1977 all the way through the most recent class of 2009. I know this was particularly special for the 2010 Truman Scholars, who had an opportunity to meet those who came before them to answer President Truman’s call to public service.

Before the Reunion, we looked forward to exploring President Truman's legacy as an inspiration for each of us to renew, refresh, and recommit ourselves to public service. It is clear from our conversations among one another during and after the Reunion Weekend that this is certainly the case. As always happens when Truman Scholars get together, we inspire one another to service.

I hope events like this inspire you – whether you attended the Reunion in Missouri, the “Satellite Reunion” in London, another event in recent months, or if you just stay connected through the listserv and social media – to connect or reconnect with the Truman community.

For starters, it has been exciting to hear from many Scholars that they are applying for the Truman Scholars Association Board of Directors, and I hope many more of you will apply before the June 21 deadline. For the many Scholars who will be in Washington, DC this summer, I will join Fred Slabach (MS ’77), Executive Secretary of the Harry. S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, at a Truman Scholar Meet-and-Greet at Old Ebbitt Grill in Washington, DC on June 29, and we hope many of you will attend.

If you can’t be present at an upcoming event, there is much you can do with a few minutes of your time: please update your profile information, subscribe to our online listserve, join a TSA Regional Club, offer to mentor a younger Scholar, or help organize events much like the Reunion Weekend nationally, regionally, and virtually. For more information, please visit www.trumanscholars.org.

It is an exciting time for Truman Scholars, no matter where we live and no matter when we were selected. I hope you will take advantage of all this community has to offer!

Pooja K. Agarwal (MO ’05) is President of the TSA Board of Directors.