Student Spotlight: Jimenez Awarded Truman Scholarship
Augustine Jimenez (Pardee ’20) has been awarded a 2019 Truman Scholarship, an award given to a small number of college juniors across the nation based on their leadership, academic achievement, and commitment to public service.
Jimenez, who has previously won a Posse Foundation Scholarship and an Initiative on Cities (IoC) National League of Cities Menino Fellowship for future leaders, is one of 62 outstanding college students from 58 institution honored with Truman Scholarship in 2019.
The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation reviewed 840 files from 346 institutions in 2019. Students were nominated by their institution based on their records of leadership, public service, and academic achievement. The scholarship comes with a cash prize of $30,000 that can be used toward graduate school, as well as opportunities to participate in programs for scholars in Washington, D.C.
Jimenez told BU Today that while he initially wanted to pursue a career with the U.S. State Department after graduation, he believes he could make a bigger impact as a lawyer and local policymaker. Jimenez said he plans to use the $30,000 Truman prize to help pay for law school after he graduates.
From the text of the BU Today article:
An international relations major, Jimenez initially thought he wanted to work at the US State Department, but changed his plans after completing his Menino Fellowship work with the National League of Cities last year.
During that internship, which comprised a directed study at BU and a spring semester working at the league’s Washington offices, he researched the growing number of nonprofits that take a two-generation approach, targeting services to both parents and children in need. He looked closely at the work of a nonprofit in Biloxi, Miss., for example, that helps single mothers get construction jobs and access to childcare. The experience, and the election of Donald Trump as president, made him think he could be more effective as a lawyer and a local policymaker looking for ways to help working-class families.
“People have to work around the clock to pay for food and utilities,” he says of families trying to make ends meet. “They don’t get to be around their children.”
Jimenez joins Pardee School alumna Jessica Depies (Pardee ’17) as a Truman Scholarship recipient. Depies was awarded the scholarship in 2016.