Puig receives Truman Scholarship for public service

The award is given to 65 students across the country.

By Katie Moritz

Published April 2, 2009

Junior Rick Puig's future changed when his cell phone rang in his family's Las Vegas hotel room. The MU student was enjoying a relaxing spring break vacation with his mother and sister when he answered his phone and the voice on the other end announced the news he had been waiting anxiously to hear: he had won the prestigious Truman Scholarship.

"I basically freaked out," Puig said. "(My mother and sister) knew when they saw the look on my face. I don't think I could have designed a better circumstance to have found out."

The award is given to 65 students in the U.S. and includes a $30,000 scholarship for further education and internship opportunities. Puig said the scholarship requires recipients to commit three of the seven years following a graduate education to community service.

"You get to be part of a network of the most phenomenal, dedicated and qualified young people," Puig said.

Puig said he has big plans for the scholarship money he was granted.

"I'll definitely be going to grad school, either get a law degree or a master's of public policy," Puig said.

After applying, a process Puig called arduous, he was named one of the three MU nominees for the scholarship. After being chosen as a finalist a month later, Puig was invited to an interview.

"The interview is designed to challenge you," Puig said. "They ask you off-the-wall questions like, 'When was the last time you had a beer?' It's designed to find out who will be best to be an agent of change."

MU philosophy professor Don Sievert has worked closely with Puig during his years at MU.

"He was very bright and has real leadership potential," Sievert said. "Politics flows through his veins."

Puig has an extensive resume of political activism and community service, which includes campaigning for several politicians, interning for Gov and Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., volunteering at Immigration and Refugee Services and starting a small business putting together educational resources for high school debate teams.

His political involvement didn't stop at internships. Puig was the youngest member of Nixon's Citizen Transition Advisory Board and the youngest delegate to the 2008 DNC Rules Committee, as well as the Young Democrats of Missouri president and a regional director of the Young Democrats of America. Puig is part of the executive committee of the Missouri Democratic Party.

MU College Democrats President Brian Roach, who said has worked with Puig in Missouri politics since their freshman year, said he sees passion and persistence in all of Puig's endeavors.

"He is one of the most hard working and dedicated people I know," Roach said. "This well deserved scholarship will allow him to continue to pursue public service after graduation."

Sievert said Puig's success lies in his ability to balance the facets of his life.

"He integrates his student life with his political life," Sievert said. "It's quite a balancing act, but he manages to juggle them very successfully."

Puig is running for vice president of the Young Democrats of America. Although politics seem to be imminent in Puig's future, he said he's not quite sure.

"Before you run for politics, make sure you have means outside of politics," Puig said. "My biggest focus is getting through school and finding a good job and starting a family."

Puig said the flight of his father and grandparents from Cuba during its revolution to the U.S. is his inspiration to give back to his country.

"My grandparents took a risk when they sent my father to this country and that was a risk based solely on the belief that this country has potential to be great," Puig said. "Public service is my attempt to validate the risk they took on this country. I take it very seriously and it's a very personal and important part of my identity."