Army ROTC Cadet Awarded
Truman Scholarship

Maile Yeats, a junior at Scripps College and an Army ROTC cadet, has been named a 2008 Truman Scholar. The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation awards $30,000 merit-based scholarships to college students who wish to attend graduate school in preparation for careers in government or elsewhere in public service.
Yeats, (whose first name is pronounced "Miley"), says she wouldn't have applied for a Truman scholarship if it weren't for the encouragement of ROTC staff. "They provided me not only with support and guidance," Yeats say, "but also the experiencesinternships, airborne school, leadership experience, etc.that made me a desirable candidate. The principle requirement for the Truman Scholarship is a commitment to public service and there are few things that demonstrate such a commitment more than being a contracted ROTC cadet."
Yeats was nominated for the award by Nancy Neiman Auerbach, associate professor of international political economy and Truman representative at Scripps College. The ROTC cadet says she'd heard that applying would be as time-consuming as a full-credit class, and agrees. "I put together my policy proposal during the fall semester, which I researched about the same way I would for a term paper," Yeats said. "Then, over winter break, I devoted myself to filling out the rest of the application and revising my policy proposal," averaging more than an hour daily on the paperwork.
Yeats says she applied at the urging of two officers in the ROTC department: LTC Rob Kirkland, CMC's professor of military science and leadership and LTC Bill Fitch, the program's recruiting operations officer. Not knowing "how these sorts of scholarships would work with my ROTC commitment, I had never considered them before," she says, "but both said they thought I would be a strong candidate and it would benefit my career in the Army."
"I have had the pleasure of serving as her professor of military science as well as her instructor in the History of U.S.-Latin American Relations," LTC Kirkland said. "In her ROTC and academic classes, Maile demonstrated such a keen intellect, capacity for critical judgment, and empathy for the people of the past that her performance made a lasting impact on me. The soldiers that Maile leads are going to be very lucky to have her as their lieutenant."
The Scripps College student plans to earn a master's degree in public policy, or the equivalent, with an emphasis in international development and conflict resolution. However, "while the Truman Scholarship will certainly bolster my resume," Yeats says, "it doesn't guarantee admission. Where I study is largely dependent on where I get accepted.
"Fortunately," she says, "the Truman Foundation provides lots of guidance during the admissions process and will help me choose the programs that are best suited for me and my career goals."
Yeats says her career plans would likely continue her graduate work in defense policy. The Scripps senior says she plans to enroll in graduate school this fall, then begin her military service after earning her master's. Although her military service will count as the Truman's public service requirement, she says she plans to continue working in the public sector. "Whether as a civilian or a member of the uniformed services, I hope to continue to study defense policyeither within the Department of Defense or a think tank," she says.
Yeats says she grew up skiing, playing soccer, camping, hiking, "and generally taking advantage of the outdoors in Idaho, my home state.
"I also love the challenges of traveling on my own, trying to have conversations despite language barriers, and meeting new people with different backgrounds and interesting stories," Yeats says.