Griffitts-Harper Earns Prestigious Truman Scholarship

Rob Griffitts-Harper, a junior from Boise, Idaho, is one in all 58 college students nationwide to earn a 2022 Harry S. Truman Scholarship, turning into the fourth scholar from The Faculty of Idaho to earn the uncommon distinction.

Griffitts-Harper, a Mountain View highschool graduate, was one in all 189 finalists nationwide and the one one from an establishment within the state of Idaho. View the official Truman Basis announcement right here.

“I actually didn’t count on to even be a finalist,” mentioned Griffitts-Harper, who’s double-majoring in historical past and Spanish. “Realizing that proper after I graduate, I’ve a direct job and a plan is fairly distinctive.”

Truman Students obtain as much as $30,000 for graduate or skilled faculty, which Griffitts-Harper plans to make use of for legislation faculty. Instantly upon graduating from the Faculty within the spring of 2023, Griffitts-Harper will go to Washington, D.C., to finish an expert internship as a part of the Truman Scholarship earlier than attending legislation faculty. Griffitts-Harper’s pursuit of the Truman Scholarship was strongly supported by Dr. Mee-Ae Kim, the Klara Okay Hansberger Endowed Professor of Historical past on the Faculty. Kim has suggested and mentored Griffitts-Harper for 3 years.

“I don’t even know what the height is for Rob,” Kim mentioned of Griffitts-Harper. “I believe we now have an thrilling time forward to look at Rob develop and (to look at) Rob develop into a unprecedented chief.”

Griffitts-Harper’s software handled reasonably priced housing, with this description from the Basis’s listing of Scholarship recipients: “Robyn is obsessed with increasing entry to housing and mitigating discrimination primarily based on means, race, and sexual orientation. They plan to pursue a JD to characterize shoppers prone to eviction, experiencing homelessness, or going through discrimination, in addition to to help neighborhood members by means of free or sliding-scale authorized recommendation.”

The Truman Scholarship is designed for college students who plan to pursue careers in public service. Based on David Douglass, Provost and Dean of School on the Faculty, the Truman Scholarship is among the prime scholarships out there within the nation, together with Rhodes Scholarships and Goldwater Scholarships.

Tyler Hatch ‘13 is the final scholar from the Faculty to earn a Truman Scholarship, doing so in 2012. Hatch helped Griffitts-Harper to use for the scholarship, particularly preparations for software interviews with the Basis.

As described by the Truman Scholarship Basis, the scholarship was established by Congress in 1975 because the residing memorial to President Harry S. Truman and nationwide monument to public service. It carries the legacy of our thirty third President by supporting and galvanizing the subsequent technology of public service leaders. When approached by a bipartisan group of admirers close to the top of his life, President Truman embodied this dedication to the way forward for public service by asking Congress to create a residing memorial dedicated to this goal, quite than a standard brick-and-mortar monument. For greater than forty years, the Truman Basis has fulfilled that mission: inspiring and supporting Individuals from various backgrounds to public service.

Earlier Truman Students from The Faculty of Idaho:

2012 – Tyler Hatch
1993 – James Wonacott
1982 – Varina Van Veldhuizen

The Faculty of Idaho has a 130-year-old legacy of excellence. The Faculty is understood for its excellent tutorial applications, profitable athletics custom, and historical past of manufacturing profitable graduates, together with seven Rhodes Students, three governors, and numerous enterprise leaders and innovators. Its distinctive PEAK Curriculum challenges college students to achieve competency within the 4 data peaks of humanities, pure sciences, social sciences, and an expert area—empowering them to earn a significant and three minors in 4 years. The Faculty’s close-knit, residential campus is positioned in Caldwell, the place its proximity each to Boise and to the world-class outside actions of southwest Idaho’s mountains and rivers gives distinctive alternatives for studying past the classroom. For extra info, go to www.collegeofidaho.edu.