When Jeff Ziarko was younger, his mom would yell at him for watching too much news on television. But now, his interest in business and politics has paid off.
The political economy and finance senior was one of 50 students from across the country who won a student fellowship award from the State Farm Companies Foundation, based in Illinois. Four hundred students applied.
“It’s an incredible honor,” Ziarko said.
Beth Leuck, program coordinator for State Farm, said the winners are chosen on the basis of scholastic performance and business leadership potential. The last time an MSU student won this award was 1994.
The winners were chosen by professors from different universities in the United States. This year’s professors came from George Washington University, Illinois State University, Illinois Wesleyan University and Eastern Illinois University, Leuck said.
Ziarko came to MSU in fall 1998 to study business and politics. Currently he is director of undergraduate budgetary affairs for ASMSU, MSU’s undergraduate student government.
Ziarko said he heard about the fellowship from ASMSU’s business office.
“I didn’t know what I was up against. I thought I would give it a shot,” he said.
The same day Ziarko heard he won the State Farm fellowship, he also learned he did not win the Harry S. Truman Scholarship, which he was a finalist for.
“It dampened the blow,” he said.
Ziarko doesn’t have set plans after graduation but is interested in educational policy.
“Educational policy is a funny area. It’s so ideologically charged. That’s not at all how I am,” Ziarko said. “I’d really like to bring a more balanced, reasoned perspective to some of the debates we have on educational policy in today’s society.”
He said he is grateful to everyone who has helped him succeed at MSU.
“I feel like winning this validates the efforts of all the faculty and administrators who have helped me here, as much as it validates my own efforts,” Ziarko said.
Charles Hadlock, assistant professor of finance, recommended Ziarko for the award.
“He’s an absolutely marvelous student. One of the best students I’ve come across at MSU,” Hadlock said.
Ziarko was the top student in Hadlock’s Finance 801, Managerial Finance, class last fall, which is a graduate-level class.
“He’s a nice guy, very smart and interested in a lot of different things,” Hadlock said.
