Duke Junior Named Truman Scholar
Duke junior Andy Cunningham plans to use his scholarship for international development
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
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Durham, NC -- Duke University junior Andrew “Andy” Cunningham, who helped start a boarding school in Kenya that is about to be built, has been awarded the prestigious Truman Scholarship.
Cunningham, from Rutland, Vt., is a dual major in international comparative studies and Chinese. He is currently in China with the Duke Study in China program.
Truman Scholars are chosen based on their academic success, leadership potential and commitment to a career in public service. They receive $30,000 for graduate study, priority admission and supplemental financial aid to some top graduate programs, as well as leadership training and career counseling.
Cunningham is one of 65 students from 56 U.S. colleges and universities selected this year by the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, the foundation announced Tuesday.
Cunningham is also the recipient of a 2004 Robertson Scholarship that fully funds his Duke tuition and the Goldman Sachs 2006 Global Leadership award.
Passionate about children’s rights and education, Cunningham has been active in public service around the world. He co-founded WISER, the Women’s Institute for Secondary Education and Research (www.wisergirls.org), the first all-girls boarding school in Muhuru Bay, Kenya. There, male teachers and fellow students often sexually abuse girls in primary and secondary school, Cunningham said. The school’s aim is to guarantee girls a safe and effective education so they may attend college. Construction of the school is set to begin later this year.
Cunningham also led a fund-raising campaign in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that raised $125,000 for students and their families in New Orleans. In addition, he has worked with physically and mentally handicapped children in Jamaica and volunteered to teach street children in Calcutta, India, with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.
Cunningham has traveled to China to complete an audio documentary about youth working to prevent HIV/AIDS. In 2005, he served as a delegate to the U.S.-China Presidential Summit in Beijing.
Cunningham calls building a school for girls in Kenya his “dream” because he is able to combine research about gender and Kenya’s HIV rates with skills he learned at Duke to make a difference.
“I discovered that I actually had the capacity to make an impact on the world by integrating what I learned at Duke with problems facing us around the world, especially in Kenya,” he said in an email. “Duke’s new focus on global health, global service and global engagement has provided the perfect springboard into preparing me to become a Truman Scholar.”
Cunningham plans to defer graduate school for one year and invest his energy into WISER. After a year in Kenya, he plans to pursue a graduate degree in international education policy development.
To date, 38 Duke students have received Truman Scholarships since the program was initiated in 1977.
