On Wednesday, April 10, Azeem Ahmed, a junior in finance and economics, was included in a list of 62 students receiving the Harry S. Truman Scholarship this year, making him the first recipient from Auburn University since 1985 and the third since the creation of the scholarship.
"This award is one of the most competitive undergraduate awards in the nation," said Dr. Paul Harris, Associate Director for National Prestigious Scholarships at Auburn University.
The scholarship, which is only awarded to juniors, includes $30,000 toward graduate or professional school and an internship in Washington D.C. The scholarship also gives Ahmed the option of attending Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School at no cost.
"It is a big sigh of relief, that is for sure," Ahmed said. "They help place you so you are almost guaranteed a job. The two biggest worries of graduating juniors and seniors are getting a job and paying for graduate school and they are kind of taken care of for me. So I can't complain."
The scholarship offers guaranteed placement for an internship with most branches of the government in addition to several dozen companies like The World Bank. Ahmed said he plans to take an internship with the state department in the summer of 2014.
The scholarship requires him to work three years in public service position within seven years of his graduation next May, which Ahmed said he already intended to do.
"A lot of people look at these scholarships and say how great you've done, but it's really all the people behind me who helped me get there," Ahmed said. "I think they deserve most of the credit if not all of it."
Ahmed said he hopes to earn his master's degree in public policy or a related field at Princeton or Harvard and then continue his education at UAB where he wants to become a medical doctor and go on to work in the large-scale humanitarian realm, such as Doctors Without Borders or the World Health Organization.
The Auburn native who duel-enrolled at Auburn University his senior year of high school, said he was in a meeting when he found out on Thursday, April 4, that he had been selected.
"I stepped out a minute to call my mom," Ahmed said. "She's my chief editor and moral supporter."
Harris said there were 629 official university-endorsed applicants this years. Each aturned in a 16-page application before the foundation chose 200 of those students for an intense interview. Out of those 200, the final 62 were chosen to receive the scholarship.
Harris approached Ahmed with the idea of applying earlier last year.
"I knew he would be a strong candidate because of his commitment to the War on Hunger campaign," Harris said. "I was happy to help him. He is a well-rounded student and he uses all his energy and talent for the good of the community and the world. He is someone that the entire Auburn family can take great pride in."
Ahmed is the current president of the Committee of 19 and vice-president of the Campus Kitchen Project. He previously served as an executive officer for the Honors Congress, was the president of the Red Cross Club among many other campus positions.
"Azeem is a natural born leader. Everything he does is well thought out and to the best of his ability," said Evan Lutomski, senior in interdisciplinary studies and an executive officer on the Committee of 19. "Azeem never gives anything less than 100 percent and that is seen from the results he produces. I have been blessed to have him as a friend and colleague."
At 21 years old, Ahmed has worked an internship in Cairo, Egypt with the World Food Program and researched malnutrition in children in Bangladesh through a research hospital.
"My application talked about me helping other people, but I really think it's a testament to other people helping me," Ahmed said. "It means the world to me, but not because of what I've done, but what others have done for me. I have had people help me with applications, people who helped me learn foreign languages, helped arrange internships, and gave me scholarships and funding to travel. I've really tested people's patience because I'm an unusual student, being a finance major trying to go to medical school. I've gotten to meet so many different people at Auburn and they have helped me along the way."
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