Sociology major Kaylin Casper advances as a Truman Scholarship finalist

February 26, 2025

Kaylin Casper is one of two MSU students who are advancing to the final stages of the nationally competitive Truman Scholarship.   

The Truman Scholarship, sponsored by the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, recognizes students with exceptional leadership potential who are committed to affecting change through public service. It provides financial support for graduate study and leadership training for approximately 62 students nationally. Awardees will be announced in the coming months. 

“Kaylin embodies the goals of the Truman Scholarship. She is an exceptional student, she is a committed and justice-focused advocate for the needs of her Indigenous community, she will go on to graduate student and further to do impactful and important policy work,” said Dr. Sarah Prior, Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Director for MSU Sociology. 

Casper is a third-year Honors College student double-majoring in Sociology through the College of Social Science and Humanities Pre-Law in the College of Arts and Letters. She is also pursuing a minor in American Indian and Indigenous Studies, and a second minor in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Sexuality Studies – both through the College of Arts and Letters. 

She is also a member of the Social Science Scholars Program and holds multiple leadership positions at MSU, including serving as a general assembly representative for the Associated Students of MSU (ASMSU), a board member for the North American Indigenous Student Organization, and a member of the Land Acknowledgement Plaque Committee. 

“MSU is enormously fortunate to have Kaylin among its student body, but the lives of Native students have been especially enriched by her presence. She will, I am sure, become the influential attorney and champion of Native rights she aspires to be. But a Truman Scholarship would accelerate her progress to this goal. It would also relieve a lot of the crushing financial burden that Kaylin now confronts due to her father’s medical condition and his unemployment caused by last year’s Hollywood strike. Kaylin is a profoundly deserving student who will be the most effective and principled advocate for better tribal policy,” wrote Dr. John Waller, Director of the Social Science Scholars Program in his nomination letter for Casper. 

Casper is a Udall Scholar, having previously earned a competitive national scholarship for future leaders in environmental, Tribal public policy, and health care fields. She is a direct descendant of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, and attended John Burroughs High School in Burbank, Calif. 

The other finalist is Isabelle Radakovich, a third-year Honors College student majoring in International Relations, as well as Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy in James Madison College. She is pursuing a third major in French through the College of Arts and Letters, along with a minor in European Studies. 

Radakovich received the STARR Charitable Foundation Scholarship and was part of the MSU Women’s Rowing Team for over two years. In addition to studying abroad in Costa Rica and France, she has presented research on food insecurity at the University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum and is currently completing a senior honors thesis on private military companies in intrastate conflicts. 

Radakovich has numerous leadership roles with MSU campus organizations, including policy committee chair for ASMSU, ASMSU representative to the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and MSU’s Athletic Council, and senator for James Madison College’s Student Senate. 

In her free time, she enjoys spending time outdoors and organizing Dungeons and Dragons games for other players. Radakovich attended Cody High School and is from Cody, Wyo. 

Portions of this article were originally published here.