Truman Scholarships awarded to two Wheaton political science majors

NORTON, Mass.--Two Wheaton College political science majors, both planning to pursue law degrees and careers in the development of land use policy, learned today that they also share the honor of being named Truman Scholars.

Juniors Alex Dewar of Portland, Ore., and Myles Matteson of Epsom, N.H., will each receive up to $30,000 from the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation to pursue graduate degrees. The foundation receives more than 600 applications every year and awards 70 scholarships to college juniors with leadership potential who are committed to careers in government, nonprofits, advocacy, education or any other public service area. For two students from the same college to win the award is unique, according to the foundation.

''Alex Trayford, your institution's Truman faculty representative [and director of scholar programs], deserves substantial credit for finding and supporting your new Truman Scholars through the arduous application process,'' said Executive Secretary Louis Blair. ''To have two from Wheaton this year is even better [than one]. They join a great tradition of folks like Jared Duval '05, Adar Cohen '04 and Fred Marcks '01.''

Dewar, president of the Student Government Association (SGA), has built a long and distinguished record in leadership and public service. A Balfour Scholar, 2004 Udall Scholar, Eunice Caldwell Leadership Award winner and Eagle Scout, Dewar says his work in Oregon politics and land conservation best illustrate his passion for public service.

With the Oregon Bus Project in summer 2004, Dewar helped organize volunteers who traveled the state to canvass for progressive candidates. ''Organizing a bus trip and canvassing is no small logistical task, and to make them successful I recruited coalition partner organizations with similar interests and goals,'' Dewar wrote to the Truman Foundation. ''With my experience in environmental issues, I was able to organize one [of five] bus trips around the theme of environmental conservation by securing speakers on the subject.''

Dewar is especially interested in developing public policy to combat the social ills-pollution, abuse of natural resources and decline in urban growth-associated with urban sprawl. ''As residents of urban areas move to live in newly developed suburbs, the urban tax bas declines,'' he said. ''Cities are left with decreasing property values, poor schools and public services and higher crime rates. In turn, these effects prompt more urban flight and even more sprawl.'' He hopes to pursue a law degree at New York University while simultaneously earning a master's in public policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

A jack-of-all-trades--home-schooled student, professional bagpiper, Junior Olympic fencer, sailor, debater and Wheaton Presidential and Balfour Scholar--Matteson discovered an interest in rural and agricultural development literally in his own backyard: his parents' flower farming business in New Hampshire. It's there, Matteson explained, that he learned how imbalances in farm subsidy distribution affect small farmers.

''Ten percent of the largest and most profitable producers receive 72 percent of all federal subsidies,'' Matteson wrote. ''This skewed distribution not only affects the pricing of land, labor and production, but also is encouraging the disappearance of our nation's small farms. ...Proper promotion and treatment of rural and agricultural development must be addressed now.''

Matteson also has a strong interest in law. His dream of attending the U.S. Naval Academy and joining the Navy Judge Advocate General's (JAG) Corps ended when he nearly lost his vision as a teen, so Matteson is concentrating on the civilian courtroom. In 2002 he interned with the United Nations Chief of Prosecutions in The Hague, when he studied the trial of former Yugoslavian leader Slobodan Milosevic. He often discussed international law with the prosecution team, and those discussions changed the way he understood the law.

''Law isn't a rigid structure that demands obedience,'' Matteson said, ''but a pliable and elastic ideal that must be participated in to achieve any kind of coherence or effectiveness.'' Matteson hopes to attend the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Three other Wheaton students have won major scholarships so far this year. Senior Carolyn Wills of Salt Lake City earned a Rhodes Scholarship, and seniors Liza Semler of Middlesex, Vt., and Tyler Matteson of Epsom, N.H., won Watson Fellowships.