Three Harvard juniors have been selected as 2002 Truman Scholars by the Truman Scholarship Foundation in recognition of their exceptional leadership potential and extensive records of community service.

Michelle Kuo ’03 of Lowell House, Lisa B. Schwartz ’03 of Eliot House and Samuel Houshower ’03 of Cabot House were notified before Friday’s official announcement.

The scholars will each receive a $30,000 merit-based grant to assist them in paying for graduate or professional school in preparation for careers in government, the non-profit sector or public service.

Last year, nearly 600 candidates from colleges across the nation were nominated for the award.

Kuo, a joint women’s studies and social studies concentrator, is the volunteer director at the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter, a former executive board member of the Women’s Leadership Project and a former editor-in-chief of Diversity and Distinction.

“It was very humbling to receive the award,” Kuo said. “I met a lot of amazing people dedicated to public service through the selection process. There were so many people just as deserving of the award.”

Kuo, who is interested in women’s rights in developing countries and in human rights law, plans to take a few years off and then go to law school. She is weighing the possibility of participating in Teach For America.

Schwartz, a government concentrator and Crimson editor, said she was looking forward to the events that are part of the scholarship and interacting with the other scholars.

Schwartz is president of the Mock Trial Team and Pre-Law Society and is involved with the Institute of Politics. She has also participated in public service organizations through the Phillips Brooks House Association and spent her last summer working in the office of Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist.

Schwartz’s brother, Kevin S. Schwartz ’01, also received a Truman scholarship.

The third recipient of the award, Samuel Houshower ’03, a transfer student, received his nomination from Deep Springs College.

Houshower, a social studies concentrator, said the prize was unexpected.

“I had no clue whether or not I would get it because there were so many amazing people,” he said.

Houshower is on the board of directors of the Telluride Association, an educational non-profit organization, and is the undergraduate representative to the Harvard Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility. He is also involved with Fair Trade organizing and is interested in issues of international justice.

The 31 Truman applicants at Harvard had to compete for four slots in order to be considered for the college’s nomination.

Craig D. May ’02 of Dunster House was named a Canadian Rhodes Scholar this past December. May, a biomedical engineering concentrator, is a native of Newfoundland. He plans to study bio-statistics and mathematics and has applied to St. John’s College at Oxford.