KU News Release

KU nominates three students to compete for Udall scholarships

LAWRENCE — Three University of Kansas students are among about 500 students nationally competing for 80 Morris K. Udall Scholarships.

The KU nominees are Margaret A. Tran, Derby sophomore; Jennifer M. Kongs, Topeka junior; and Aaron M. Reinke, Stilwell junior.

Winners of the $5,000 scholarships will be announced online April 8 by the Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National Environmental Policy Foundation.

Nominees must be college sophomores or juniors who demonstrate outstanding potential and study the environment and related fields or must be Native American or Alaska Native college sophomores or juniors who demonstrate outstanding potential and study fields related to health care or tribal public policy. Two-year and four-year institutions may nominate a total of six students from either or both categories. Scholars selected during their sophomore year may be renominated for the next year’s competition.

Since the first Udall scholarships were awarded in 1996, 17 have been awarded to 16 KU students (one student received the scholarship twice).

Established by Congress in 1992, the scholarship program honors Congressman Udall and his legacy of public service. The Udall foundation in Tucson, Ariz., administers the program.

The career goals, hometown information and academic and service activities for the KU nominees are below.

JOHNSON COUNTY
From Stilwell 66085
Aaron Michael Reinke is majoring in civil and environmental engineering and hopes to combine his engineering and medical interests to improve public health, particularly in developing countries. He plans to earn a medical degree in preparation for serving as a physician in developing countries. Reinke has volunteered with church affiliated missions in Mwanza, Tanzania; in Juarez, Mexico; and in New Orleans. In Juarez, as the youth intern for the Stilwell United Methodist Church, Reinke led a group of teens in the construction of a new home. Without power tools and with only wheelbarrows to haul concrete for the foundation, the group completed the house in less than a week. Reinke was vice president and co-founded Engineers Without Borders at KU. He is a member of two national honor societies: Phi Kappa Phi and Tau Beta Pi. He is an emergency room volunteer at Lawrence Memorial Hospital and volunteers with Jubilee Café, which provides a restaurant-style breakfast for community members in need. He has worked since 2002 as a pharmacy technician and has also worked for deck building and landscaping firms. He is the son of Steve and Barb Reinke and a Blue Valley High School graduate.

SEDGWICK COUNTY
From Derby 67037
Margaret A. Tran is majoring in environmental studies to prepare for a career in public service or business to promote environmental sustainability. She is the regional director for 2020 Vision, a national program that promotes implementing renewable energy, and is program coordinator for Environmental Action to Revitalize the Heartland, a program in KU’s Center for Community Outreach. With EARTH, Tran has organized students to volunteer with the local farmer’s market and annual farm tour and to collect and recycle cans at athletic events. Money from the recycled cans was donated to charities. Trans has worked with EARTH to revitalize a Campus Garden project that both provides students with organic farming experience and beautifies the campus. This spring she is organizing efforts to plant the garden with vegetables and herbs. Through 2020 Vision, Tran has worked with campaigns opposing two new coal plants in Kansas. She is a National Merit Scholar. She is the daughter of Chinh and Lan Tran and a graduate of Derby High School.

SHAWNEE COUNTY
From Topeka 66614
Jennifer M. Kongs is majoring in environmental studies and in geography. Her career goals include educating the public about the environmental and human health effects of modern agriculture and the importance of developing self-sufficient methods of agriculture. As a market coordinator for the Lawrence Fair Trade coalition, Kongs received a small grant from TransFair USA to fund outreach activities that included serving fair trade hot beverages, each week at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries near the campus. She coordinated the annual Fair Trade Holiday Gift Market, which netted more than $20,000 to provide salaries for producers in developing countries as well as to local small-scale venders. This spring, she is working to promote the coalition’s second annual Fair Trade in the Heartland Conference in Lawrence. Kongs is researching “localvore” diets to encourage shorter distances for food to travel from farm to table. She has published news articles in a local grocery cooperative newsletter and in a national e-letter affiliated with “Mother Earth News.” She has also worked part-time in various jobs at the Community Mercantile Co-op in Lawrence. She regularly helps a local farmer weed crops and sell produce at the Lawrence Farmers Market. At KU she was selected for the University Scholars Program, an annual mentoring program offered to 20 top sophomores. She is the daughter of Michael and LeeAnne Kongs and is a Hayden High School graduate.

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