Taylor Zabel

A University of Kansas student is one of 62 college juniors nationwide to be named among this year’s Harry S. Truman Scholars, KU announced Thursday.

Taylor Zabel, a junior from Smith Center studying biochemistry, becomes the 19th KU student to earn a Truman Scholarship, according to the university.

Zabel is from a five-generation farm family in Smith Center and credits his rural roots with his achievements at KU.

“Growing up on a farm teaches you to be humble, and it teaches you patience,” Zabel said, in KU’s news release. “You take what you can get, and you use what you have.”

Taylor Zabel

Zabel is on the advisory board of KU’s Counseling and Psychological Services and was active in the Provost’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisory group. He plans to pursue a medical degree and a master’s of public health, and hopes to explore how preventive medicine can address health care issues.

“I want to have a say in reforming and improving health care services and public health in rural communities,” he said, in KU’s release. “It’s a huge disparity. For example, where I grew up, one mental health center serves 20 counties in rural Kansas. For now, I’m just trying to improve where I’m at, but I look forward to what the future holds.”

Truman awards are given to college juniors for leadership in public service, according to KU. The scholarship provides as much as $30,000 for graduate study, and scholars are given priority admission at some premier graduate schools, leadership training, career and graduate school counseling and special internship opportunities with the federal government.

To notify Zabel that he’d won, KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little surprised him on Tuesday by walking into his biology lab with balloons and a certificate, according to KU.