CHAMPAIGN, Ill. DeAvery V.J. Irons, a junior at the University of Illinois, has won a Harry S. Truman Scholarship.
Irons, 19640 Mech/Illiop Road, Illiopolis, is majoring in political science.
Irons is a co-director of Vis-A-Vis, a student tutoring organization that provides services to the Champaign-Urbana community. She is also a development intern at the UI Press and a sergeant in the Illinois Army National Guard.
Irons plans to attend law school and work to protect and secure the rights of children, especially the right to a beneficial education.
The Truman Scholarship Foundation this year selected 80 students from 56 U.S. colleges and universities as Truman Scholars. They were elected by 19 independent selection panels on the basis of leadership potential, intellectual ability and the likelihood of "making a difference."
The 80 scholars were selected from among 592 candidates nominated by 303 colleges and universities.
Each scholarship provides $30,000 $3,000 for the senior year and $27,000 for two or three years of graduate study. Scholars also receive priority admission and supplemental financial aid at some premier graduate institutions, leadership training, career and graduate school counseling, and special internship opportunities within the federal government.
The Truman Scholarship Foundation was established by Congress in 1975 as the federal memorial to the nations 33rd president.