Wagner '06 selected as a Scholar in the Nation's Service Initiative

Already named a recipient of Princeton’s Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence for the second year in a row, William Wagner, MKA Class of 2006 and a Woodrow Wilson School major, has just been selected as one of five students to be a member of the 2009 undergraduate cohort of the Scholars in the Nation's Service Initiative by The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

All Princeton juniors are eligible to apply for the SINSI competitive program designed to encourage and prepare exceptional students seeking to pursue careers in the U.S. government. Selected students spend their final three semesters in college completing their majors along with courses in public policy, developing a familiarity with career opportunities in the federal government and spending the summer after their junior year in a federal government internship.

Modeled after the Rhodes and Marshall scholars, students are admitted into the Woodrow Wilson School's two-year master in public affairs (MPA) program after earning their bachelor’s degrees.  After completion of their first year of graduate study, they then work for two years in the federal government before returning to Princeton to complete the final year of the graduate program. Scholars also have the opportunity for intensive language training in the language of their choice during one summer.

Already proficient in Farsi and Spanish, Wagner hopes to combine his passions for law and international relations in a career at the departments of State or Justice, and is currently learning Arabic and taking part in the Woodrow Wilson School policy task force at American University in Cairo. He will intern at a U.S. embassy in the Middle East this summer, and is preparing for his senior thesis in foreign policy towards the Middle East, particularly Afghanistan.

"Our newest Scholars in the Nation's Service represent a range of academic, policy and geographic interests along with a demonstrated passion for public service," said SINSI director Barbara Bodine, a former U.S. ambassador and career senior Foreign Service officer and a diplomat-in-residence at the Woodrow Wilson School. "The school's curriculum, combined with extended practical work experience, provides scholars with the tools to tackle the new and complex challenges facing the nation and the U.S. government and to succeed in their chosen careers."