July
Sub-archives
Jul 19, 2011
Scholars All-A-Twitter at Nat'l Conference
Those of you attending the conference in person and those who want to follow it from afar can join the conversation using the Truman Conference Twitter App, located at www.trumanconference.org/app. The App, which is accessible from your computer or mobile device, feeds in all tweets using hashtag #TrumanScholars, as well as official announcements from the Truman Scholars Association and what's next on the conference schedule. You don't have to be on Twitter to see what's going on, just go to www.trumanconference.org/app. To participate, simply join Twitter and join the conversation using #TrumansScholars. Attendees, starting tomorrow evening we'll be sending official announcements out on this app, not by email, so check it out!
Call for Applications, TSA Board of Directors
Call for Applications: Truman Scholars Association Board of Directors
The nominating committee for the Truman Scholars Association is now accepting applications for open seats on its board of directors. Truman Scholars from all classes and backgrounds are encouraged to apply by Friday, August 5, 2011.
About the Truman Scholars Association
The Truman Scholars Association (TSA) is comprised of all recipients of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship. TSA’s mission is to empower Truman Scholars, promote public serve, and change the world. TSA strives to cultivate fellowship among scholars and highlight the value of public service. TSA activities include a biennialnationalconference, finalistdinners across the country, maintaining the TSAblog, presence in socialmedia, and fundraising and development via theTrumanScholarsAnnualFund.
About the TSA Board of Directors
The board of directors designs and implements TSA’s activities. TSA is an all-volunteer organization, and directors commit time to helping TSA accomplish its goals. Directors serve three-year terms on a voluntary basis. Directors commit to attending two-plus conference calls per month (committee and full board meetings). Other calls are held as needed to accomplish TSA’s work, and directors are expected to work between meetings on TSA activities. The board also meets in person one weekend each fall. While the board’s work fluctuates over the year, directors generally commit 4-8 hours per month on TSA business.
TSA’s Specific Needs
The nominating committee seeks applicants with a diversity of skills vital to TSA’s goals. The nominating committee is specifically seeking candidates with the following:
1. Experience, networks, and energy to contribute to TSA fundraising and development efforts
2. Time to contribute to and manage TSA’s social media presence on at least a weekly basis
3. Technical proficiency, such as experience with Google Forms, HTML, and e-newsletter platforms
If you have skills or experience in any of the above areas, please mention it in your statement of interest.
How to Apply
All interested scholars -- of any background, from any class, in public service or not -- are invited to apply via a simple two-part process:
● Complete the short online form at http://bit.ly/tsa-app.
● Email one attachment in PDF format containing a short statement of interest and a resume to tsa@trumanscholars.org. The attachment’s file name should include your full name.
The statement of interest should be approximately 250-500 words and address the following questions:
● What is your vision of TSA?
● Why do you want to join the TSA board of directors?
● How would you help TSA develop and reach its goals?
The nominating committee may conduct 20-minute phone interviews with finalist candidates as needed.
Election Process
The nominating committee of current board members will propose nominees to the full board in late August. New directors will be notified shortly thereafter. TSA’s first board meeting for 2011-2012 will take place on September 13, 2011, at 9 PM ET. Applicants are expected to reserve this date and attend this meeting if elected.
Please send any questions to tsa@trumanscholars.org or contact any currentdirectors. We hope you will consider applying for this important role in our Truman Scholar community.
Class Notes (July 2011)
Pooja K. Agarwal (MO '05) is graduating from her Ph.D. program in Experimental Psychology at Washington University in St. Louis this July. She will be joining the Illinois State Board of Education as the Assessment Division Administrator in Springfield, Illinois. She looks forward to giving back to the state of Illinois (her home state) and also to serving the public! Due to her Ph.D. defense, a family wedding, and moving, she regrets that she is unable to attend the 2011 National Conference. She looks forward to seeing everyone again at the next National Conference!
Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza (NC ‘09) appeared on MSNBC to speak about the Change.org petition on "Caylee's Law.” Watch her here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqRhKJwlP_g
Don Gomez (NY '09) authored a commentary piece, "When Hero Rings Hollow," published in The New York Times: http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/13/when-hero-rings-hollow/
Jul 17, 2011
Youth as the Driving Force in the Prevention Movement: The Intern’s Insider
Neha Deshpande (NJ ’10) is currently a Summer Intern with the Office of the Surgeon General at Health and Human Services. A participant in the Summer Institute, she offers reflections on her experience to date.
Summer Institute in DC is every starry-eyed Truman scholar’s dream. With our new business wardrobes, government ID lanyards, and official-looking legal pads, we come to this city with the hope and optimism to change the world. This summer, our Truman class of 2010 made our way by plane, train, and car to move into George Washington University’s dorms and begin one of the most memorable and unforgettable summers in our careers. We were about to embark on our true story, of 44 strangers who soon became the closest of friends, picked to live and work together, and take one step closer to our futures in public service work.
Like the other Truman scholars, I too, was eager to start my new internship. I was beginning to work at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to explore how our government ensures the health and wellness of the American people. With Harvard Medical School only months away, it was my opportunity to learn firsthand the behind the scenes work that is the spine, so to speak, of our healthcare system.
The Hubert H. Humphrey Building was simple and stoned from the outside. As you entered its main doors, the perched silhouette of the Capitol dome beamed from a distance. From the inside, the marbled halls and midnight blue carpets emitted a sense of diligent patriotism.
A week into my internship, I was given the opportunity to attend a television taping in Washington, DC featuring U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Regina Benjamin. The topic of discussion was the release of the National Prevention Strategy. This first-ever Strategy unites 17 federal agencies with a joint mission of shifting our nation’s system of sick care to one based on wellness and prevention.
Eager to make an impression, I arrived early, sporting my new “Washington Black” pencil shirt and iron-pressed blouse. As the Surgeon General was whisked away to the glimmering, brightly lit studio, I was directed to watch the program from the confines of the Green Room. The cappuccino maker hissed and sputtered as crew members scurried in and out of the room. As I settled in near a monitor, a poster caught my eye: “Health is not a Democratic or Republican issue. It is an American one.”
After the show, I decided to stop for a quick lunch before Metro-ing back to the office. Here I was, after the Surgeon General’s taping on America’s health and wellness, sitting in a comfy booth of a chain restaurant. I ordered a delicious grilled chicken sandwich, side of fries, ice-cold soft drink, topped with one of DC’s famous gourmet red velvet cupcakes to finish the meal. I looked around the restaurant at the other hungry customers snacking on pizzas and hamburgers, enjoying midday beers and ice cream sundaes. In the corner of the restaurant was a salad bar, largely abandoned and unexplored.
And somewhere between the honey mustard sauce on my fries and the butter cream icing on my cupcake, I began to wonder. How do you get people to change their health behavior in meaningful ways? The poster caption was right; health is a bipartisan, universal issue that applies to people of all color and creed. People want to be healthy. So then, why is it so hard for Americans to adopt healthy lifestyle choices?
The importance of prevention is embedded into the daily fabric of our lives as America’s youth. We go to school and study to prevent bad grades. We work and save money to prevent future financial insecurity. In the same sense, we can take simple preventive measures to ensure health and wellness. Many of these policy and infrastructure changes take time and will be more applicable for younger Americans who can really integrate these lifestyles changes, almost in our own DNA.
Unfortunately, society at times, is myopic to the concept of what constitutes healthy living. While exercise and good eating are critical factors, there are other key pieces in the puzzle, as reflected in the National Prevention Strategy. Driving with a seat belt, applying sun block on a hot summer day, or taking the stairs instead of an elevator, are all simple ways to exercise healthy lifestyle choices. There are so many non-clinical strategies that can help us act as promoters and advocates of health living.
If youth take on the responsibility of acting as the trusted advisors, change-agents, and trail-blazers within our families and communities, we can ensure that our increasingly aging nation will also incorporate wellness into daily living. In the long run, prevention will only decrease the burden of Medicare costs for my generation.
Living with the other Truman scholars this summer truly showed me the power of youth. I feel both fortunate and privileged to be a member of such a powerful and influential network of leaders. It was incredibly moving to see people my age who were so passionate about a cause and determined to fight for the betterment of humanity. We all had our different stories and set of experiences, but somehow one common mission to be the change we saw in our world.
We are the generation that championed the Green Movement. Like recycling and energy saving, prevention needs to become a social norm. My generation has the ability and the vitality to sustain this new and emerging prevention movement. The stakes are high, the benefits are endless.
I pushed my plate of half-eaten fries and cake three inches to the right, just as the waitress returned and asked, “Are you finished miss? Would you like your check?” I brushed the cupcake crumbs from my pencil skirt and replied with a grin, “I think I’ll try the salad bar first.”
Jul 13, 2011
Who's coming to the National Conference?
Hi Scholar Community!So a lot of you have been asking -- Who's coming to the National Conference??? To help you reconnect with old friends while you're at the Conference, we're posting a list of attendees on our Conference website. Before posting who's attending, we've asked all the registrants to give us permission to post their name, Scholar year and Scholar State. As we receive permission from registrants, we'll post the attendees at http://www.trumanconference.org/attendees. We'll update the list daily, so you can keep checking back. Keep in mind that other Scholars have registered, but we just won't post the names until we receive permission from them. And if you haven't yet, you can still register at http://trumanconference.org/register. Don't miss out on all the fun!See you in a couple weeks,Adair Boroughs (SC '01)PresidentTruman Scholar Association
Jul 05, 2011
Gale: "Why I Keep Coming Back to TSLW"
For years I’ve been honored
to come back to Truman Scholars Leadership Week (TSLW) as a Senior Scholar, and
inevitably some of the incoming Truman Scholars always ask, “Why do you keep
coming back?”
Their intent is never to insinuate that I’m crazy; it’s mere, adorable curiosity, and it’s a fair question. Senior Scholars have careers and commitments, and many of us spend our spare hours at TSLW catching up on the work we left behind. The bottom line is that our commitment to public service transcends our professional careers, and it includes giving back to the larger Truman community.
Coming back is an absolute delight. Nothing keeps you motivated like a hit of Truman Scholars. The new class has an incredible energy every year, and you return home more motivated to serve and with a wonderful set of stories and new dance moves. The moves have been getting more challenging every year though. I completely failed to master the art of “smanging” during TSLW 2011, but the dance lessons at my local studio are working wonders so far.
We learn and grow more from the incoming Scholars than anything they collectively get from us. Being amongst Truman Scholars is a special setup. Not since Summer Institute could I banter with the people around me about the seemingly inane policy topics I hold dear – my favorite from TSLW 2010 was a riveting discussion on fecal contamination from ranching and the potential for zoonotic diseases as an environmental justice concern – only then to rush across the room to a game of “Mafia” about to start. Everyone brings such wonderful knowledge and experiences. Once Tara Yglesias (PA ‘93), the beloved figurehead of TSLW and Deputy Executive Secretary of the Truman Foundation, course corrects everyone with the “you’re all ‘special little snowflakes’” routine, you can learn a lot from just the casual chatter.
The only people I learn more from while at TSLW every year are the other Senior Scholars. I’ve had the pleasure to get to know a gang-busting attorney, distinguished educators, political geniuses, and a whole lot of amazing public servants. They are at the top of their fields for their age, but what’s more striking is their sense of character and good humor.
The other question I get a lot from the incoming class is, “Do the Senior Scholars talk about us?” The answer is “Yes, absolutely.” Truman Scholars are such interesting people, and you deserve to be discussed. Every class has its own collective personality and cast of characters from year to year.
Madeleine Albright, President of the Truman Foundation, once commented to me that her time as Secretary of State was somewhat akin to running a zoo, and there’s probably a comparison to be made to TSLW. In my years though as a “keeper” at TSLW, I’ve never seen the animals throwing excrement at each other or anything like that, but there are sometimes discussions amongst the “keepers” about which animals might be courting and whether or not they’ve been fed enough the night of the Hunger Banquet. In all honesty though, we spend the vast majority of our time talking about how wonderful everyone is while laughing at the constant hilarity emanating from the Truman Foundation staff, the Scholars, and each other.
For future Truman Scholars and others who are curious about what really happens at TSLW:
- If a Senior Scholar makes fun you, it means that we respect and love you… honestly
- Yes, the Senior Scholars get disappointed in Scholars when they break the rules and act like 20 year olds (even though they are)
- Senior Scholars do socialize outside of the TSLW schedule and beyond the William Jewell Campus, but we’re allowed to
- The Senior Scholars don’t actually have “favorites” – we don’t care enough to make the effort of crafting lists
- There are such things as boundaries, no matter how much you want to dance with your favorite Senior Scholar
- The only expectation of Senior Scholars for their policy groups is to not be embarrassed by them
- There are even more snacks for Senior Scholars stashed away in the basement
- We will “tweet” the hilarious things Scholars say ;)
Michael Gale (WV ’02) co-coordinates the Conserving the Future vision process for the National Wildlife Refuge System (www.AmericasWildlife.org). Follow him on Twitter @generationwild.
