Two West Point Cadets Named Truman Scholars

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation announced recently that Cadets Hope Hack, an organizational psychology major from Mt. Gilead, Ohio, and Robert Norwood, a computer science major from Siloam Springs, Arkansas, earned Truman Scholar honors.

In 2019, there were 840 candidates for the award nominated by 346 colleges and universities, a record number of both applications and institutions. They are two of the 62 Truman Scholars selected in 2019. They will receive their awards in a ceremony at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum on Sunday, May 26.

Recipients of the Truman Scholarship receive a $30,000 scholarship toward graduate school and the opportunity to participate in professional development programming to help prepare them for careers in public service leadership.

Hack has volunteered as a Writing Fellow, tutoring her fellow cadets in the craft of writing, and has served as an integral member of West Point’s newly redesigned Trust Committee. Recognizing that the academy needed a story-telling platform for cadets and faculty to share their personal narratives and form meaningful bonds, she founded “Share Your Story,” a new public forum at West Point.

Norwood is the founding member of the Cadet Media Group, West Point’s only student-run media organization. He created “Target 35,” a video which showcases cadets telling their own stories of sexual assault and harassment. The second iteration of this video was shown to the entire Corps of Cadets and the academy’s staff and faculty in February.

He aspires to be a future armor officer. With the Truman Scholarship, he aims to pursue a Master of Public Policy and work to combat sexual assault and harassment in the Army and in society at large.

Awarded during the junior year, the Harry S. Truman Scholarship, established by Congress in 1975, is the premier nationally-competitive scholarship for young Americans committed to public service leadership. Since its creation in 1975, the Truman Scholarship Foundation has supported almost 3,000 Truman scholars who are making a difference in all corners of the nation and around the globe. Truman Scholarships provide exceptional professional development opportunities for the recipients and enhance the contributions West Point graduates make to the Army and the nation.

West Point cadets have earned 38 Truman Scholarships since first competing in 1992.

About West Point

The U. S. Military Academy at West Point is a four-year, co-educational, federal, liberal arts college located 50 miles north of New York City. It was founded in 1802 as America's first college of engineering and continues today as the world’s premier leader-development institution, consistently ranked among top colleges in the country. Its mission remains constant— to educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the nation as an officer in the U. S. Army. For more information, go to https://www.westpoint.edu.