Chelsea Caveny
Lauded as “change agents,” Truman Scholars are undergraduate students who have the passion, intellect and leadership potential to improve the ways that government and other entities serve the public good. The Truman Scholarship Foundation has recognized Chelsea Caveny, a junior public policy leadership major from Hattiesburg, as having just that sort of potential, naming her as The University of Mississippi’s 14th Truman Scholar. Caveny, a student in the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, gets $30,000 for graduate school.
“Public education in the state of Mississippi is failing its students,” Caveny said. “These failing public school systems and the divide among races have resulted in failing communities. Without equity, communities cannot develop. I want to lead a comprehensive approach through community organizing, public and private partnerships and innovative approaches that will improve public education in Mississippi while uniting and rebuilding communities.”
As a Truman Scholar, Caveny hopes to participate in the 2011 Washington Summer Institute, where she’ll work for the U.S. Department of Education and explore funding opportunities to help bridge educational disparities in rural America. She plans to use the Truman Scholarship to earn joint master’s and law degrees through the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, then hopes to return to the Magnolia State to be part of the Mississippi Teacher Corps for two years.
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