FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 4, 2005

CONTACT: Daniel P. Finney, (515) 271-2833 or daniel.finney@drake.edu

PAIR OF DRAKE STUDENTS FINALISTS FOR TRUMAN SCHOLARSHIP

Two Drake University students are finalists for the prestigious Truman Scholarship. Brittany Buchholtz, a junior from Cedar Falls, Iowa, and Renae Steichen, a junior from Madison, SD, are among the more than 200 finalists for the scholarship.

The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation awards merit-based $30,000 scholarships to college students who plan to pursue careers in government or elsewhere in public service, and wish to attend graduate or professional school to help prepare for their careers.

This year about 800 students from more than 400 colleges were nominated for Truman Scholarships. The foundation expects to award between 75 to 80 Truman Scholarships this year.

On Friday, March 11, Buchholtz will be interviewed in Kansas City, Mo., and Steichen will be interviewed in Minneapolis. If the students receive Truman Scholarships, they will become the sixth and seventh winners at Drake since 1990. Drake’s most recent Truman Scholar was Shelia McCoy, a 2000 graduate.

“It’s very exciting to be a finalist,” Steichen said. “It’s also kind of nerve-racking. The interview process is very rigorous.”

“The Truman Scholarship is the most prestigious scholarship in the United States,” said Julian Archer, professor of history and the Truman faculty representative at Drake. “Being a Truman Scholar is comparable to being a Rhodes Scholar in England.”

Buchholtz is a 2002 graduate of Cedar Falls High School and is majoring in international relations with a minor in anthropology. Her passion is global health issues. She helped found the pro-choice student organization Drake University Voice of Choice.

She has worked with NARAL Pro-Choice America, Advocates For Youth Comprehensive Sexuality Education Campaign, and HIV-AIDS education in Iowa’s Black Hawk County Health Department. Her studies have taken her to San Antonio, Texas; Washington, D.C.; Amman, Jordan; South Africa and Mozambique.
Buchholtz is also the recipient of a $10,000 scholarship from the National Security Education Program for her work on public health issues in Cedar Falls.

“Brittany’s activities at Drake and what she is doing now in Washington, D.C., show a consistency of focus and determination,” Archer said. “She is a poised young woman driven by curiosity to discover all that she can about the wider world.”

If Buchholtz receives the Truman Scholarship, she plans to defer her graduate studies for two years and enter the Peace Corps. After her return to the United States, she wants to enroll at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore to earn a master’s degree and later pursue a doctorate in health policy and management. Ultimately, she wants to serve as a policy-maker for the U.S. government or an internationally recognized world health organization.

She is currently studying at American University in Washington, D.C., as part of Drake’s Washington Semester program. As part of her studies, she is studying development and environmental issues in South Africa and Mozambique.

Steichen is a 2002 graduate of Madison High School in Madison, SD and has a double major in environmental policy and politics with minors in environmental science and business studies. Her passion is environmental education and preservation.

She crusades for issues as president of the Drake Environmental Action League and co-authors environmental science articles with Drake environmental science professor Keith Summerville while working extensive hours at Zanzibars Coffee Adventure.

Steichen has been an intern at the Sierra Club and a research and teaching assistant for Summerville. She has worked for the American Red Cross and is a member of Alpha Phi Omega, a volunteer service fraternity.
“Renae’s effectiveness as the principal student environmental activist is due to her very polite manner and methodical persuasiveness,” Archer said. “Her approach is not emotional or accusatory and, consequently, she has moved Drake along a path of environmental sensitivity as no one, faculty or student, has been able to do before.”

Upon graduation from Drake, she hopes to enroll in Stanford Law School’s Environment and Natural Resources Law Policy Program. Ultimately, she hopes to pursue a career with the Department of Energy or the Environmental Protection Agency to push for clean, renewable energy sources and address climate change issues.

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