Madalyn Farrar ’19 was awarded a prestigious Harry S. Truman Scholarship this past spring in recognition of her history of leadership, public service, and academic achievement. She will receive a $30,000 scholarship toward graduate school and the opportunity to participate in professional development programming to help prepare her for a career in public service leadership.
An Illinois Scholar from the St. Louis metropolitan area, Farrar is passionate about creating a healthy environment through public health policies and wants to work in public service to combat health inequalities. An anthropology major at Trinity, she also studies biology, which she may pursue as a minor or second major. Farrar was named in 2016 as a Deans’ Scholar (one of the top 25 first-year students) and has earned Faculty Honors every semester. She also received the Lisa P. Nestor Chemical Rubber Company Award for outstanding achievement in general chemistry.
Farrar has worked to facilitate student volunteering in Hartford by running several service organizations focusing on access to healthy food, housing, and environmental sustainability, including serving as Habitat for Humanity chapter president. She has been honored with Trinity’s Fishzohn and Goldfarb Awards, which recognize community service and service to the City of Hartford, respectively.
Farrar was in England studying health and disease as well as nutritional anthropology at Oxford University when she learned of the honor. She plans to pursue a graduate degree focusing on women’s health and health policy.
One of 59 Truman scholars named for 2018, Farrar was selected from an applicant pool of 756 nominated by 311 colleges and universities, a record number of institutions.
Farrar credits several Trinity staff and faculty mentors for their support and encouragement. “I am so grateful to Anne Lundberg [director of fellowships] for supporting my application while abroad and to Alison Draper [director of Trinity’s Center for Interdisciplinary Science] and Jim Trostle [professor of anthropology] for always guiding me to find the right academic path for me,” she said. “A huge thank-you to Joe Barber [director, Office of Community Service and Civic Engagement] and the Office of Community Service for supporting my involvement in community service and for all the work they do for Trinity and Hartford.”