Harry S Truman College Class of 2015 graduate and Transfer Scholar Lauras Angonou graduated Cum Laude from the University of Illinois-Chicago and is now a Master’s degree candidate in public policy at Northwestern University. He is well remembered at Truman for his President’s Volunteer Service Award, presented to him at the White House, for his work as president and founder of the UNICEF at Truman Club and other volunteer activities.
Born in Benin on the west African coast, Lauras came to the United States with limited resources and only basic English proficiency. He first enrolled in the English as Second Language program at Truman before beginning credit classes to further his education in public policy. He completed his Associates in General Studies degree at Truman before transferring to the University of Illinois at Chicago where he received a full-tuition scholarship to complete work on his bachelor’s degree in Public Policy. Under his leadership, the UNICEF at Truman Club worked on a variety of numerous philanthropic and awareness-raising events and was selected as Truman’s “New Student Organization of the Year” as well as “Student Organization of the Year” for 2014-2015. Because of his work with the Truman club, Lauras was selected to be a member of UNICEF’s Congressional Action Team that, meeting monthly in Chicago, works to motivate the United States Congress to support UNICEF and any legislation that can help improve and save the lives of children worldwide.