TSLW 2007

I write this post as the sun sets on a busy day. In preparation for my future trip to India, I have to get a slew of shots and medications. Needless to say, I'm not exactly looking forward to being a human pincushion this week. Nevertheless, I arranged all of that today, with the help of mom and grandma, and I'm still enjoying the afterglow of an amazing Truman Scholars Leadership Week.

Going into the week, I expected to meet a number of great leaders and future public servants. These expectations were met the very first day. 65 Truman Scholars descended on Liberty, Missouri and we immediately completed ropes courses and leadership training exercises. I've done plenty of these activities previously, but I noticed the caliber of my teammates as surpassing anyone I've worked with in the past.

Over the course of the week, we worked on policy proposals in different areas of public service. These ranged from increasing education standards in New York to determining the future of Iraq to using mosquito nets in Kenya to reduce malaria rates. I worked on addressing food insecurity in American rural areas. Overall, we came up with systemic changes in the Farm Bill up for renewal in 2007, including subsidies and social service programs. Our awesome team included Umair, Paul, Jenna, Sheila, and Josh ("J-Lo"). We presented for over an hour and did a great job. It was a pleasure to work with these great scholars!

Of course, we also did plenty of other things during the week. We learned about different opportunities post-graduation, including other fellowships (Rhodes, Marshall, etc.), civil service (Peace Corps, Americorps, etc.), and of course graduate schools. I found this interesting, as a large portion of the Truman application included a detailed path through graduate school and beyond. But, the national staff stressed the importance of the 'constructive confusion' of TSLW helping us to make informed decisions about the future. If you had asked me about a week ago what my plans after next year were, I would have assertively said that I wanted to gain my MS/MPP at a top-ranked school, such as Michigan or Harvard. Now, a slurry of options are on the table, which is a bit nerve-racking but also quite exciting!

In my opinion, the culmination of the week was the "Wild About Harry" variety show. Originally, it was meant to showcase the various talents of the 2007 scholars. A group of us got together and wanted to do something a little different... so we produced "Harry: The Musical." We basically rewrote well-known Disney and Broadway songs by incorporating aspects of the Truman application process. We did "Be Our Guest," "Seasons of Love," "Prince Ali," "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better," "We Didn't Start the Fire," "Hello Mother, Hello Father," and "Circle of Life." We worked hard and had a ton of fun writing and practicing the musical. It was received with great laughter and ovation on Saturday night! We just wanted to make everyone laugh and have a great time, and I think we succeeded. As I left KC on the drive home, I already incredibly missed all of my new friends I made over TSLW. Everyone offered amazing enthusiasm and intelligence with such a positive attitude. The week made me incredibly optimistic and hopeful for the future. Even though all of us 2007 Trumans are already sending long emails and calling one another, I can't wait for the next time we all hang out. Summer Institute 2008 can't get here soon enough!