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Sara Walter ’09 (Kempton, Pa.), a double major in history and government & law and Spanish, and Alexis Beveridge ’09 (Bethesda, Md.), a double major in government & law and international affairs, have been selected as finalists for the 2008 Harry S. Truman Scholarship competition.
Committed to encouraging future “change agents” of America, the Truman Scholarship Foundation provides up to $30,000 in funding to students pursuing graduate degrees in public service fields. Each year hundreds of college juniors compete for roughly 80 awards. Finalists are selected on the basis of the extent and quality of their community service and government involvement, leadership record, academic performance and writing and analytical skills, and suitability of their proposed program of study for a career in public service.
Walter is scheduled to be interviewed by a regional Truman selection panel on March 7, and Beveridge is scheduled for March 17. Scholarship winners will be announced March 25 on the foundation’s website.
For information on applying for scholarships and fellowships, contact Julia A. Goldberg, associate dean of the College, at x5521 or email. See a list of recent Lafayette recipients of national and international scholarships and fellowships for undergraduate and post-graduate study.
Walter has also been named a finalist in the Independent Women’s Forum Essay Contest for her essay on how female voters will effect this upcoming election. The first place winner receives a $5,000 cash prize.
The Independent Women’s Forum is a non-partisan research and educational institution that focuses on issues of concern to women, men, and families. Their mission is to rebuild civil society by advancing economic liberty, personal responsibility, and political freedom.
During the fall of 2007, Walter performed EXCEL research with John Kincaid, Meyner Professor of Government and Law and Public Service, in which she assisted him with research for a set of volumes of the best articles having to do with federalism. Last semester, she was part the six member Technology Clinic team that worked to find environmentally-friendly alternatives to the College’s current practices.
She interned in the offices of congressional representative Charles Dent in Washington D.C. during the summer of 2006 and also worked as a curatorial intern at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in the Division of Work and Industry in the summer of 2007. She served an externship at the Ben Franklin Institute over the January 2007 interim session and is currently interning for Lou Reda Productions.
Walter is the First Vice Chair for the Pennsylvania College Republicans, a member of the Lafayette College Republicans and the Easton Republican Committee, the College’s Arts Society and Concert Band, and Alpha Gamma Delta Sorority. She is a Gateway Ambassador and a volunteer with Landis Community Outreach Center. She previously served as Philanthropy Chair for the Panhellenic Executive Council and performed with the Marquis Players.
Walter anticipates obtaining her Ph.D. in United States history with a focus on fraternal and social/industrial history as well as an M.A. in museum studies with hopes of working as a museum curator.
Beveridge interned in the offices of congressional representative John M. Spratt, Jr. during the summer of 2006 and at the National Gallery of Art in the fall of 2005. She is a member of the women’s rugby team, a writing associate, and a performer and stage crew member in College Theater.
She is spending the month of February in Antwerp, Paris, Berlin, and Istanbul through the School for International Training. Through this same program, she will then proceed to Utrecht in the Netherlands to study Islam and Muslim diaspora communities in the European Union.
Beveridge performed research on microfinance at Lafayette that led to a proposal for reforms to microfinance policy to help make it a more financially sustainable strategy for poverty alleviation in developing countries. She hopes to one day start a non-profit organization in the United States to make her microfinance proposal a reality.
Beveridge’s plans also include pursuing a J.D. in law and a M.A. of public policy at an institution in the Washington D.C. area and possibly working for the State Department or as a staff director for a congressional committee on trade.