When she found out at the end of March, Zohdy actually hadn’t gone to class because she wasn’t feeling well. She received a call from Laura Symonds, coordinator of National and International Scholarships and Fellowships, asking her to come to campus, Zohdy said.

“The call was suspicious, so I got excited,” she said. “I didn’t want to think I won until I walked in to class, and (President Lou Anna K. Simon) walked in with the dean of the Honors College and James Madison College to make the announcement.”

Zohdy is active in public service, said Cynthia Jackson-Elmoore, dean of the Honors College, in an e-mail.

Her activities include cofounding the Women’s Faith Forum and the Peace over Prejudice campaign. She is the vice president and political action chair of the Muslim Students Association, Jackson-Elmoore said.

The foundation received about 600 applications from almost 300 universities and colleges nationwide. Of those, almost 200 were selected from interviews and 65 were selected as scholars, Ygelsias said.

Before her application was submitted to the foundation, Zohdy had to be nominated by MSU, which has its own process for screening initial applicants.

The Honors College held information sessions, assisted the students in compiling their applications and conducted the initial interviews with the MSU applicants, Jackson-Elmoore said.

Four of the 10 students who applied at MSU were chosen to be nominated, Zohdy said.

Like Zohdy, most, if not all, of the previous 15 MSU recipients were members of the Honors College, Jackson-Elmoore said in an e-mail.

The foundation was set up in 1975 as the only memorial to President Harry S. Truman, Ygelsias said.

“(Truman) spoke a lot about promoting young leaders and student in public service,” she said. “The foundation was established to be President Truman’s memorial.”

Zohdy said she would like to pursue graduate school around Washington, D.C., and is particularly interested in Georgetown University. She hopes to earn a Ph.D in an international relations field.

“It would be hard to accomplish what I want to do and not be in D.C.,” she said.

Zohdy said one of the most defining aspects of college has been her involvement in public service, which she said helped to contribute to her getting the scholarship.

“It’s just made my college experience incredibly rich,” she said. “I’m just really passionate about bringing people together from different backgrounds.”