Georgetown University students Shemeko (Amy) Hang (COL ’09) and Caraleigh Holverson (SFS ’08) were recently awarded scholarships from the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation for the 2008-2009 academic year. The scholarship provides up to $30,000 in funding to college juniors hoping to pursue graduate degrees in public service fields. Georgetown has hosted 22 Truman Scholars in the university’s history.

"Amy and Caraleigh both carry on John Carroll's mission for Georgetown, training leaders for the nation and the world," said John Glavin, University Fellowship Secretary and director of The Gervase Programs. “These two extraordinary young women, each of whom has overcome considerable hardship, have impressively combined service with leadership and will be outstanding representatives of Georgetown in their future endeavors.”

Amy Hang, from St. Paul, Minn. is a Government major with a minor in Justice and Peace Studies. She is studying in Auckland, New Zealand this semester. With her Truman scholarship, Hang hopes to pursue policy and law degrees that will help her better understand, explain and conquer the challenges facing Southeast Asian Americans including Hmong Americans and other minorities. Much of Hang's inspiration is derived from her family and the Hmong community. Hang's parents, political refuges with little formal education of their own, have made enormous sacrifices to support their seven children's educations including selling vegetables, egg rolls and spring rolls at local farmers' markets. At Georgetown, Hang founded a thriving mentorship program for students in the Georgetown Scholarship Program. Working with the Asian American Student Association and Student of Color Alliance, she's been an advocate for Asian-Americans on campus, all the while staying tuned in to the Hmong community in her hometown. Last summer Hang served as Interim Campaign Manager and Lead Hmong Organizer in her sister's city council run against a 12 year incumbent. Despite defeat, they succeeded in building a community movement. In her future work, Hang is passionate about taking a local approach to alleviating larger problems, such as the largely hidden yet significant disparities in academic achievement in the Southeast Asian community in comparison to East Asian Americans, South Asian Americans and other Americans.

Caraleigh Holverson, an International Politics major from River Forest, Ill. is a senior in Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. Her studies focus on Africa and women's issues within international development. Unable to attend high school due to severe chronic illness, Holverson earned her GED and when her health improved, managed to attend community college and finally, on a Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship, to transfer to Georgetown. As a transfer student from a community college and a GED recipient, she is especially concerned with issues of educational access and equity. At Georgetown, working as a GED tutor with Georgetown’s Prison Outreach Program, Holverson encouraged incarcerated individuals who faced their own daunting challenges to pursue an education and in Ill., she has tutored children with autism. Holverson’s inspiration to seek a career in public service focused on the role of education as a catalyst for societal development stems from these experiences tutoring and her own educational journey. She has worked tirelessly to overcome her own setbacks and believes others, with the right tools and assistance, can be empowered to do the same for themselves. Holverson plans to use the Truman scholarship to further study social justice and education policy in international development, eventually working in Africa on policy implementation, with special focus on issues of gender and secondary education. She hopes that by gaining direct experience working in international development she can be a more effective leader of policy change.

Truman Scholars are selected for their leadership potential, intellectual ability and passion for a career in public service. This year 65 students from 55 U.S. colleges and universities were selected from among 595 candidates nominated by 283 colleges and universities. The nearly 600 applicants do not include the number of students who compete on individual campuses for one of four total nominations accepted from each institution.

Recipients must be US citizens, have outstanding leadership potential and communication skills, be in the top quarter of their class, and be committed to careers in government or the not-for-profit sector—committing to work in public service for three of the seven years following completion of their scholarship tenure. Today, past scholars hold positions in various areas of public service, including government, the non-profit or advocacy sectors and education.

The 2008 Truman Scholars will assemble May 13 for a leadership development program at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, and receive their awards in a special ceremony at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, on May 18, 2008.

The U.S. Congress established the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation in 1975 as a federal memorial to President Harry S. Truman. In addition to academic funding, the foundation assists scholars with assistance with career counseling, internship placement, graduate school admissions and professional development.