A West Point student from Siloam Springs is one of two Arkansas students to be named 2019 Truman Scholars.
Bobby Norwood is among 62 college students selected from 58 institutions for the graduate scholarship for aspiring public service leaders. The junior at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., is majoring in computer science with a minor in Latin American regional studies.
The other Arkansas student receiving the scholarship is Samia Ismail of Fort Smith, a junior studying biomedical engineering at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation was created by Congress in 1975 as the living memorial to President Truman and the Presidential Memorial to Public Service, according to a press release from the foundation.
As a Truman Scholar, Norwood will receive up to $30,000 for graduate study, the release states. Scholars also receive priority admission and supplemental financial aid at some premier graduate institutions, leadership training, career and graduate school counseling, and special internship opportunities within the federal government. Recipients must be U.S. citizens, have outstanding leadership potential and communication skills, demonstrate academic excellence, and be committed to careers in government or the non-profit sector.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, president of the foundation, announced the winners on April 11. Norwood said he learned that he was a Truman Scholar when a one star general came to his classroom to notify him about the scholarship.
"I was certainly not expecting that," he said. "Arkansas was very competitive for the scholarship this year, so I feel very honored to have been chosen this year. Truman (Scholarship Foundation) selects one scholar from each state with around a dozen more selected at large. Arkansas had two scholars selected this year, which I think speaks to the number of other amazing finalists from our state."
Before his college career, Norwood attended home-school in Siloam Springs, graduating in 2016, according to a January 2016 report in the Herald-Leader about his Congressional appointment to West Point. He was part of the Siloam Springs High School cross country and swim teams and also earned his Eagle Scout, the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouts of America in 2012, the report states.
Norwood is currently the cadet in charge of the Cadet Media Group and spends much of his free time working to end the problem of sexual harassment and assault at West Point, the foundation website states. He is on the West Point Cyber Policy team and enjoys applying concepts from cyber and information war to find new ways to solve old problems. He is also a Stamps Scholar.
After graduation, he hopes to continue reducing gender inequality as an officer in the newly gender-integrated armor branch of the United States Army.
Norwood and the other new Truman Scholars, mostly college juniors, were selected from among 840 candidates nominated by 346 colleges and universities. This is the largest number of applicants from a record number of schools in recent history. They were chosen by 16 independent selection panels based on the finalists' academic success and leadership accomplishments, as well as their likelihood of becoming public service leaders.
The finalist selection committee chose 199 students from 143 institutions to be interviewed by the foundation's regional review panels between March 1 and April 5.
The Truman Foundation's mission is premised on the belief that a better future relies on attracting to public service the commitment and sound judgment of bright, outstanding Americans, the release states. It was this belief that led President Truman, when approached by a bipartisan group of admirers near the end of his life, to encourage Congress to create a living memorial devoted to this purpose rather than a brick and mortar monument.
Since 1977, a total of 3,260 Truman Scholars have been selected and scholars lead at all levels of government and in the nonprofit sector, the press release states.
Norwood will join the ranks of many prominent people who received the scholarship, including Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch (1987), U.S. Senator Chris Coons (1983), former National Security Advisor Susan Rice (1984), U.S. Congressman Ted Deutch (1986), U.S. Congressman Dusty Johnson (1998), U.S. Congressman Andy Kim (2003), U.S. Congressman Greg Stanton (1990), New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (1981) and former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano (1977).
The 2019 Truman Scholars will assemble May 21 for a leadership development program at William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo., and they will receive their awards in a special ceremony at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Mo., on May 26.
General News on 04/21/2019