While most people worry about their post-graduation plans, the planning process for three Trinity juniors has just been made much easier. Tico Almeida, Benjamin Au and Lori Fixley have just been named Truman Scholarship winners in the 1998 competition.
The $30,000 scholarships, named in honor of former U.S. President Harry Truman, are granted to college juniors based upon their intellectual and leadership abilities as well as their interests in perusing careers in public service. The scholarship-$3,000 of which helps to defray senior-year costs and $27,000 of which helps to pay for graduate study-also helps recipients find internships for the summer following graduation.
Almeida said he wants to enroll in a joint-degree program in law and public policy-a training ground for his planned career in public policy advocacy. He is a founder of Students Against Sweatshops, the campus organization that helped to bring about the University's Code of Conduct, which opposes sweatshop conditions in the garment-making industry.
A public policy studies major from Wisconsin, Almeida also is president of the University's Mock Trial team, treasurer of the Public Policy Majors Union and an active member of Mi Gente. In addition to the monetary benefits, Almeida is excited about the summer opportunities the scholarship provides. "It'll open a door to different internships that I otherwise would not have been able to obtain," he said.
Au, a South Carolina native, also is majoring in public policy studies and plans to pursue a master's degree in that field. Currently president of the Public Policy Majors Union, Au is a Benjamin N. Duke Scholar and an organizer of SAS.
Because of his interest in not-for-profit organizations, Au, who also is president and captain of Duke Cycling, plans to work this summer at the Duke Endowment. "I was always raised with an emphasis on not just doing well, but doing good," he said.
Au's previous extracurricular activities include serving during the fall of his sophomore year as a Duke Student Government legislator as well as on the Arts and Sciences Faculty Council Curriculum Committee and the Task Force on the Arts. "The Truman Foundation provides a wonderful network of people that will help me help others in the future," he said.
Fixley intends to enroll in a joint-degree program in law and public health. A double major in biology and religion, Fixley said she is interested in public health advocacy in general and in issues relating to women and children in particular. Public health, she explained, is "an area that, especially recently, there's tons of work that can be done."
Fixley, a resident of Oklahoma, spent the summer after her freshman year as an intern at the American Association in Washington, D.C., where she lobbied Congress for tougher tobacco-product legislation. Also a Freshman Advisory Counselor, she served during her freshman year as a DSG legislator, during her sophomore year as a member of the DSG election commission and currently serves as a member of the DSG judiciary.
The winners of the scholarships went through an extensive application process. The University nominated them during the fall semester and submitted their applications for national review in February. The national selection committee then narrowed the field from 676 applicants to approximately 200 finalists, each of whom were then interviewed. A maximum of 75 scholarships are awarded yearly.
"I was really very honored," Fixley said. "It's nice to think that someone wants to recognize your accomplishments."
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