The monthlong TruCare service initiative will again take place throughout March, giving everyone with a Truman connection an opportunity to show how dedicated the University is to service.

Designed as a way for alumni and friends to share in the spirit of the Big Event, TruCare allows anyone with a Truman affiliation to count service hours completed from March 1 through midnight April 1 as part of a cumulative total.

Students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of the University can participate by simply logging any service hours completed during that time on the TruCare website. Hours can be logged individually or by student organizations. Hours completed during the Big Event will also be counted. The grand total will be announced in April.

In its inaugural campaign last year, TruCare saw more than 1,300 members of the Truman community contribute 4,727.5 hours of service. Projects took place in 21 cities across nine states and included working in food pantries, church nurseries, retirement communities, thrift shops, pet adoption centers and libraries, as well as fixing up a summer camp and participating in Habitat for Humanity.

TruCare is sponsored by the Truman Alumni Association. For questions about the program, contact Jordan Smith, coordinator of alumni relations, at 600.785.4167.

The Office of Admission is looking for enthusiastic student leaders with a passion for sharing their positive Truman experience.
 
Applications are open for student ambassadors for the 2018-19 academic year. Student ambassadors guide visiting students and their families on campus tours, assist in the recruitment of prospective students and represent the University.

Scholarship, work-study and volunteer opportunities are available. Institutional positions are available but limited. Applications can be found online and are due by 5 p.m. March 9. Questions should be directed to Shari Fieser, student ambassador adviser.

The application period for Truman’s annual Lincoln Contests is now open.

The contests include art, essay and oratory competitions. Each competition will include a first-place prize of $200 and a second-place prize of $100.

The prompt for this year’s competition will commemorate Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Although the document may have had a limited direct impact on the lives of many slaves, it was a watershed moment in stating that previously bound people shall be “forever free” (Emancipation Proclamation, paragraph 2). To emancipate commonly means to free from bondage, oppression or restraint. This year’s prompt asks you to choose one of the following possibilities and develop it into an essay:
• Choose another emancipatory moment in Lincoln’s life and write about it, incorporating source material.
• Choose an emancipatory moment in someone’s life and, incorporating source material, write about it.

Essays should be between 1,000 and 1,500 words, three to five pages, and can be submitted until March 20 to Barry Poyner in Barnett Hall 1110. A list of works cited should be used as appropriate, and the submission should include a cover sheet with contact information and the name of the competition being entered, essay, oratorical or both. Finalists in the oratorical contest will deliver their speeches before the National Communication Association Student Club later in the semester. Communication club members will assist this year’s judges, Chandrika Collins and Poyner, in judging.

For the art contest, entries can be submitted until March 20 to Rusty Nelson in Ophelia Parrish Hall 1221. Entries should follow the following criteria: artwork of any media is acceptable, traditional or digital output/projection – 2-D and 3-D; no larger than 18” x 24” for 2-D work and three feet in the round for 3-D work; projected work should be formatted for 16:9 screen ratio. Winning art will be added to the Schwengel Lincoln Collection in Special Collections at Pickler Memorial Library.

The Lincoln Contests in art, essay and oratory were established by Fred and Ethel Schwengel to pay tribute to Abraham Lincoln.

Each year, the Advancement Office funds a $1,000 Lincoln-Douglas Debate Scholarship for an incoming freshman on Truman’s forensic team to be selected by Christopher Outzen, director of forensics, and Craig Hennigan, assistant director. This competition takes place among high school students and fulfills the Schwengel’s desire to see a contest on the high school level.

Fred Schwengel was raised in Franklin County, Iowa, and attended Sheffield High School. He was a 1930 alumnus of Northeast Missouri State Teachers college where he met his future wife, Ethel Cassity, a 1932 alumna and native of Purdin, Mo. The Schwengels returned to Fred’s native Iowa in 1937 where Fred was in the insurance business, and they raised two children, Frank and Dorothy. His interest in politics led him to the Iowa House of Representatives in 1945 where he served 10 consecutive terms before turning to the U.S. Congress where he served as a representative for eight terms. Mr. Schwengel passed away in 1993, and Mrs. Schwengel passed away in 2011 at age 102.

The Gilman Scholarship Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is an undergraduate grant program for U.S. citizens of limited financial means to enable them to study abroad, thereby internationalizing their outlook and better preparing them to thrive in the global economy. The program provides awards of up to $5,000 for U.S. citizens undergraduate students at two- and four-year institutions who are receiving a Pell Grant to study or intern abroad.

The deadline for the summer and fall 2018 application is March 6. For more information, visit gilmanscholarship.org or click here. For tips on writing a competitive scholarship essay, click here.

The Freeman-ASIA Awards are scholarships for undergraduate students looking to study in East and Southeast Asia in summer or fall 2018. These scholarships offer up to $7,000 for U.S.-based students who have demonstrated financial need and who plan to study abroad in one of 15 countries. The amount rewarded will assist the recipient with the cost of the study abroad program and related expenses, including airfare, basic living costs, local transportation, books, etc.

For more information on eligibility criteria, or how to apply, visit the Freeman-AASIA Awards website. The deadline for the summer program is March 14. For the fall academic year, the deadline is April 11.

To learn more about study abroad at Truman, contact the Center for International Education in Baldwin Hall 106 at 660.785.4076 or ciea@truman.edu.