USD swimmer Caleb Swanson began targeting a Truman Scholarship his freshman year after he was encouraged by faculty to consider making it a goal.
He wanted to go into public service and this scholarship was all about recognizing and promoting a spirit of working for the common good.
To that end, for the last three years he has been heavily involved in campus organizations and activities that reflected his appetite for public service. He has also put together an impressive academic record and, as a Division I swimmer, has done a great job of eliminating idle minutes from his life experience.
Then it paid off. First came news that this Mitchell (S.D.) High School graduate hit his target – he was named a Truman Scholar this past school year – and then more recently he learned that this coveted $30,000 post-graduate scholarship would inspire him in all the ways he was hoping it would as well as a few more that he could not have anticipated.
First some context: This was the first time two of USD’s students earned the scholarship the same year. Caleb Weiland, a junior from Beresford, was also awarded a Truman Scholarship. USD was one of only two schools to have two honorees this year among the 62 scholars, who were chosen from 705 applicants from schools all over the country.
Named in memory of 33rd president Harry S. Truman, the Truman Foundation “identifies aspiring leaders at an important inflection point in their development” according to the scholarship website.
Swanson and Weiland were very recently part of Truman Scholars Leadership Week in Liberty, Mo. – Harry’s hometown – during which time they got a chance to learn more about careers in public service and ways to pursue them.
“With the scholarship comes a lot of professional networking opportunities and professional development opportunities,” Swanson said. “What I also found out during the leadership week is the value of staying connected with my fellow scholars.”
The trip to Liberty represented just one week of what is shaping up to be a gangbuster of a summer break for Swanson.
It began with two weeks in New Zealand with a USD faculty-led program connected to the political science department. Swanson and his colleagues studied New Zealand’s criminal legal system and how it interacts with the country’s indigenous people, the Maori.
Then he moved on to Liberty. This week he heads for Washington, D.C., where Swanson will be an intern for Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota. As a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, Smith will be devoting a lot of time to the next farm bill. Swanson will be working with Smith’s office on environmental and agricultural legislation.
The summer for the ages is supplying Swanson, who sees a career as an environmental lawyer in his future, with a steady parade of memories.
As an example, a two-hour hike through one of New Zealand’s national parks qualifies.
“We got a message two days before it was scheduled and they were like ‘Well, it looks pretty bad. Are you sure you guys want to do this?’”
Swanson and the group assured them they were plenty capable of handling whatever the southern hemisphere could dish up.
“We’re from South Dakota, right? We’re thinking we totally got this,” Swanson said. “By the time we were done we were all completely soaked. It rained the whole time. What was cool was that no one complained or dragged everyone down while we were on the hike. Everybody kept a good attitude, so it was enjoyable despite the conditions.”
