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For Immediate Release
March 30 , 2005
nebraska wesleyan student earns one of nation's highest academic honors
LINCOLN, Neb. — A Nebraska Wesleyan University student has been awarded one of the nation’s most prestigious merit scholarships.
Xuan-Trang Thi Ho, a junior at Nebraska Wesleyan University and a Lincoln High School graduate, on March 29 was awarded the Harry S. Truman Scholarship. The scholarship provides $30,000 for graduate study. Scholars also receive priority admission and supplemental financial aid at premier graduate institutions, leadership training, career and graduate school counseling, and special internship opportunities within the federal government.
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| US Senator Ben Nelson congratulates Trang Ho on her Truman Scholarship |
Ho was one of 75 scholars selected from among 602 candidates nominated. She is the only scholarship recipient from Nebraska.
“It’s such an honor that even today I am still amazed at how it happened,” Ho said of the honor. “I am fortunate to have many professors at Nebraska Wesleyan who believed in me so much.”
In 1994, Ho arrived in Nebraska with her family as political refugees from Vietnam. Her experiences living in a South Vietnam village as one of eight children of substance farmers have prompted her interest in public service. She plans to pursue a master’s degree and juris doctorate in international affairs, focusing on global health.
“Some might think a person in her circumstance would be on the receiving end of public services,” said Kelly Eaton, Ho’s academic advisor. “She has taken every opportunity to give back to society while maintaining the highest academic goals for herself.”
Among Ho’s community service projects are serving as a legal and medical interpreter to the local Vietnamese and Spanish-speaking populations, and in the past has volunteered at the Gathering Place soup kitchen, Lincoln Action Program, and taught ESL classes at Lincoln Literacy Council. She has worked with the homeless in Washington, D.C., helped at a community house for HIV/AIDS patients in North Carolina, helped build homes for the homeless in El Salvador, and assisted disabled children in Nicaragua. This summer, Ho will help lead a group of Nebraska Wesleyan students to her birthplace in Vietnam where they will assist victims of Agent Orange, a chemical used in the Vietnam war that has left many Vietnamese ill. She is currently interning at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs in Washington, D.C. where she writes about Latin American-U.S. relations.
“To have one of our students receive the only Truman Scholarship awarded in Nebraska is obviously a great honor to her and to Nebraska Wesleyan University," said University President Jeanie Watson. Two Nebraska Wesleyan University students received the same honor in 1993-1994 and 1996-1997.
The Truman Scholarship was established in 1975 as the federal memorial to the 33rd president. Recipients must be U.S. 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.
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