Three New York Students Honored as Truman Scholars
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Students from three New York City universities are among this year’s 65 Truman Scholars, a prestigious national award that recognizes undergraduates for their public service contributions.
The students are Katherine Otto, who attends New York University, Ronald Towns, a junior at Columbia University, and Christine Curella, a junior at Hunter College. CUNY student have won for three straight years.
The winners of the scholarships, which were announced yesterday by the president of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, Madeleine Albright, are given $30,000 toward graduate school tuition and preference when applying to some graduate schools.
Ms. Curella just returned from studying urban planning in Buenos Aires, Beijing, Shanghai, and Bangalore. She is headed to South Africa to study law and urban planning this summer, she said. “I feel really honored,” she said. “I’m so excited.”
Hunter College’s president, Jennifer Raab, said, “This honor is testament to her hard work.”
Mr. Towns, who is double-majoring in statistics and education, plans to study law and education policy in graduate school. He started a program under which city high school students can receive training from Columbia students and participate in free competitions on weekends.
Ms. Otto is studying for her bachelor’s degree in international relations at NYU and is working toward a master’s degree in public administration at the Wagner School. She has worked as a health advocate in Ghana and on HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention efforts.
In addition, three other New Yorkers were named Truman Scholars this year: Jonathan Kevin Cardinal, a student at St. Lawrence University; Charlotta Chung, also at St. Lawrence, and Luke Michael Messac, who attends Harvard University.
This month, winners of the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, a national award for outstanding mathematics, science, and engineering students, were also announced. Among the 317 scholars, 22 were born in New York. Five are students at schools in New York City, including three who attend CUNY, David Bauer, Itamar Belisha, and Miriam Ginzberg, along with Rachel Leskowitz, who attends Barnard College, and Geoffrey Fudenberg, who attends Columbia University. The Goldwater winners are given up to $7,500 in one- and two-year scholarships toward their continuing education.
