| AU junior charts path of service toward Truman Scholarship BY MATT GETTY
Stacy Aldinger is AU’s fourth Truman Scholar in six years. |
AU junior Stacy Aldinger wasn’t thinking about her future as she worked toward the 2006 Truman Scholarship that will shape it. She was thinking about the students at a Southeast D.C. elementary school, the children of migrant workers in Beijing, and the women in developing countries throughout the world. According to the faculty and staff who helped her shape her application, Aldinger became one of only 75 students in the nation to earn the preeminent scholarship for future public service leaders not because of her 4.0 GPA, but rather because of her dedication to helping others. “Stacy is not content to only study the world; she wants to change it,” said University Chaplain Joe Eldridge, with whom the international relations major worked to coordinate the advocacy and service efforts of 33 AU student organizations. “She fervently believes that her ability to live fully is inextricably linked to the welfare of others.” Last year Aldinger led nearly 20 AU students in a weekly project aimed at the welfare of third graders at Stanton Elementary School. As president of Operation Outreach, an AU Honors Program initiative linking Stanton students with tutors from AU, Aldinger served as a beacon for volunteers. “I have no doubt that many students signed up simply to be able to work with and be around Stacy,” said AU Honors Program associate director Maria Green Cowles. “Stacy’s positive outlook on life is matched only by her boundless energy. Both are contagious and affirming.” The honor student’s outlook and energy, Cowles noted, also are deeply rooted in her commitment to service. “Behind that vivacious personality is a mature individual with a tremendous work ethic. She brought genuine commitment not merely to the social justice goals underlying the program, but to the children themselves,” said Cowles, noting how Aldinger’s eyes would “light up” whenever she talked about the Stanton students. “She never forgot the individuals behind the program’s purpose.” Even while she was in China on a NSEP/David L. Boren Scholarship last semester, Aldinger found a way to unite her learning with her desire to help others. In addition to her studies, she took on a job teaching English to the children of migrant workers in Beijing. That work in turn became the primary research for a paper on the education obstacles facing Chinese women. “She doesn’t just study international relations as some distant and remote subject,” explained SIS professor Peter Howard, who conducted one of the mock interviews to help Aldinger prepare for the final round of the Truman application process. “She really looks at it from the perspective of how can I be involved? Where do I fit into this?” Aldinger’s experience in China also provided the inspiration for her application’s policy paper, a key factor in the Truman Scholar selection process. With this new interest in international women’s issues, Aldinger worked with SPA distinguished professor James Thurber on a policy proposal taking on the “global gag rule” that prevents U.S.-funded nonprofits from providing abortion services overseas. Armed with the $30,000 toward graduate study that comes with the prestigious scholarship, Aldinger plans to deepen her involvement in women’s issues in the East. Though she’s currently studying abroad in Brussels, she plans to attend graduate school to study international relations with a focus on development and East Asian studies. Aldinger, who is also an AU Presidential Scholar and a National Merit Scholar, is the university’s fourth student in six years to win the congressionally funded Truman Scholarship and was one of three AU students selected as 2006 finalists. The other two AU finalists were Daniel Guarnera, a political science major, and Jenifer Smyers, a double major in public communication, and law and society. |
