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WELLESLEY, Mass.
-- Wellesley College junior Marisa Van
Saanen has been awarded the prestigious Harry S.
Truman Scholarship for her outstanding
leadership and commitment to public service. One
of 61 students nationwide to receive the
scholarship, Van Saanen will receive $30,000 in
scholarship aid for her senior year and graduate
studies. Van Saanen is the 15th Wellesley
student to be named a Truman Scholar since the
first scholars were selected in 1977. Scholars
are selected based on their leadership
potential, intellectual strength, analytical
abilities, and potential to serve as "change
agents" for the public good.
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Truman Scholar Marisa
Van Saanen
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A Peace and Justice Studies and
Political Science double major at Wellesley College, Van
Saanen is interested in making a difference in the world
through poverty alleviation and health promotion. She has
invested much time in HIV/AIDS-work, highlighted by a
three-month internship at the White House Office of
National AIDS Policy last summer and a three and a half
year volunteer commitment to Food & Friends, an AIDS
-service organization in Washington, DC. In addition, she
has worked at homeless shelters, with an anti-poverty
lobby, and with U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski from
Maryland on health and aging issues. Through her federal
work-study jobs and internships, she has seen the
importance of coalition-building among public
institutions, the private sector, and grassroots
movements.
"I hope to build on my U.S.
experience with AIDS service organizations and my study
of AIDS policy with work at the international level,"
said Van Saanen. "Increased attention to AIDS sheds light
on many issues -- disparities between rich and developing
countries, between races and classes in our own country,
homophobia, gender differences--all of which call me to
care and to action."
Van Saanen transferred to
Wellesley after spending her first year at Grinnell
College, where she worked for the Department of Human
Services and served in College Government. At Wellesley,
Van Saanen has served as a Resident Advisor in her
residence hall and has been a member of the Novice crew
team.
A native of Chevy Chase,
Maryland, Van Saanen graduated from the Connelly School
of the Holy Child in Potomac, Maryland, where she was
awarded the Mary C. Crivella Prize, the school's highest
graduation honor. She is the daughter of Shelagh Van
Saanen of Chevy Chase.
Wellesley College is a
prominent liberal arts college and has been a leader in
the education of women for more than 120 years. The
College's 500-acre campus near Boston is home to about
2,300 undergraduate students. Wellesley's distinguished
alumnae include First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton,
Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, Madame Chiang
Kai-shek, and broadcast journalists Cokie Roberts, Diane
Sawyer, and Lynn Sherr.
The Truman Scholarship
Foundation was established by Congress in 1975 to
recognize and support students who want to pursue careers
in public service or in government. Its activities are
supported by a special trust fund in the US Treasury.
Since the first awards were made in 1977, there have been
2,003 Truman Scholars.
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