Relentless efforts to make a difference in the community and improve University conditions for the student body is Jordan Metoyer’s passion. And now as a recipient of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship, Metoyer plans to give back to her community in Inglewood, Calif. as a public servant. 

Metoyer, a third-year economics and urban studies student, is one of 62 scholars among 629 candidates nominated from colleges and universities to be awarded the prestigious scholarship. The scholarship is a competitive national-merit based scholarship that provides up to $30,000 to students pursuing graduate degrees, as well as leadership training, career and graduate school counseling, special internship opportunities and priority admission at several premier graduate institutions.

Metoyer said she will participate in the Archer Fellowship Program next semester in Washington, D.C. after volunteering at the Dandelion School in Beijing, China and at a public interest law firm in San Francisco this summer.

“This award means the world to me,” Metoyer said. “I will be a part of a family of visionary leaders committed to solving the nation’s leading issues — a difficult task in a time of striking polarization and inequality.”

Metoyer said after completion of a graduate program in public policy, she will work in Inglewood, Calif., as a community organizer to help low-income and at-risk youth before serving in local office.

Larry Carver, director of Liberal Arts Honors and Humanities Programs, said Metoyer is the 19th UT recipient of the Truman Scholarship since 1993.

“She is extraordinary,” Carver said. “She has done so much from helping to found Orange Outreach, an organization that networks with local nonprofits to provide students with volunteer opportunities, to developing her own parent outreach initiative that works to employ parents in public schools through the federal parent fund. She’s a force, she’s just lovely and she’s a terrific person.”

Metoyer said during her time at UT she has been involved with Student Government, serving as chief of staff of the executive committee, director of Diversity and Inclusion Agency and a Longhorn legislative aide.

Thor Lund, who was the Student Government president while Metoyer was chief of staff, said he had no doubt Metoyer would receive the scholarship.

“I think anyone who spends time with her will immediately realize that she stands out from the rest,” Lund said. “I think it’s a great accomplishment and one of the many more that she will have throughout her lifetime.”

Printed on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 as UT student wins Truman scholarship