1999 Flinn Scholar Jon Gandomi was among the 76 scholars from 63 institutions to receive the 2003 Truman Scholarship. The $30,000 merit-based award, based in part on a rigorous screening of the applicant’s demonstrated capacity to effect significant social change, provides support for college juniors seeking to attend graduate or professional school in preparation for careers in government.
Jon tentatively plans to use the scholarship to pursue a master’s degree in public administration in international development at Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, or in international affairs at Colombia’s School of International and Public Affairs.
Jon, the 11th Flinn Scholar to win the Truman, is currently studying Russian and political and economic development of Central Asia at Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics, and Strategic Research through the National Security Education Program Scholarship. He is working to complete a degree in international relations (applied political economy concentration) at University of Arizona, where he currently maintains a 4.0 GPA.
He is active worldwide in “Generation of Hope!”–a program that uses dramatic performance to address social issues among high school and university youth, implementing the project in South America, Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. Jon also served on the Youth Council for the Alternative Learning for Mentoring in the Arts and Sustainability Institute in Magdalena, Mexico.
“Jon’s vision and effectiveness have been proven in communities around the world and tried before a panel acknowledged to be the most aggressive of all national scholarship selection committees” says Michael Cochise Young, Ph.D., director of the Flinn Scholarship Program. “To be named a Truman Scholar testifies to the student’s passion, leadership, and intellectual acumen: Jon exemplifies all three in everything he undertakes.”
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