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District 7350 |
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District 7350 |
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In 2008-09, District 7350 is proud to be offering the three month cultural Ambassador Scholarship award. We will not be offering the year long Ambassadorial Scholarship award for 2008-09.
For the 2007-2008 school year several Ambassadorial Scholars that are sponsored by Rotary clubs from around the world will be attending schools in the Rotary district 7350. Each scholar has a sponsor or host to help adjust to the United States and their particular school.
| Information on the 2008-09 cultural scholarship, timetable, and application are available or by contacting Glenn Smith, the chair of this district committee. |
Among the clubs hosting this year are the State College Rotary club, and the State College Downtown Rotary club for students attending the Pennsylvania State University. The students and their hosts for the incoming 2007-2008 academic school year will be named here as soon as the information is available from the district.
On the flip side, our district sponsors an award of $26,000 for an Ambassadorial Scholar to study abroad. In recent years we have awarded scholarships to students studying in New Zealand, Argentina, France, Ghana, and Canada. For the year 2008-09 we suspended this scholarship and will be offering the Cultural Ambassadorial Scholarship in its place.
District Announces Winner of 2007 Ambassadorial Scholarship
The Rotary District 7350 Scholarship Committee met in August 12, 2006, in Bedford, PA to interview ten candidates for the 2007 ambassadorial scholarship. This was a record number of candidates from the 45 clubs in the District that covers parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia. After reviewing the applications and interviews with each of the young adults, the committee selected Michael Snyder of Frostburg, Maryland for the $26,000 award to be used in the fall of 2007 to study in a country outside the USA.
Growing up in Frostburg, Michael graduated from Beall High School in Frostburg and took classes at Allegany College in Cumberland, Maryland before he enrolled in Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. During his junior year at Dickinson, Michael spent five months in New Zealand studying geology at the University of Otago. After graduation from Dickinson in May of 2003 with a B.S. degree in
| Wonder what life is like for an Ambassadorial Scholar? Check out this letter home from Becky Diehl, the 2005 winner now in South America studying, Fall 2006. |
Geology/Environmental Science, he spent the fall of that year conducting research under Dr. Craig Etchison at Allegany College focusing on American leaders in non-violence for a potential new textbook.
In 2004 Michael spent ten months hiking the entire length of the Appalachian Trail to raise funds to provide experiential opportunities for at-risk youth, a journey of over 2,174 miles.
In May of 2005 he went to James English School in Sendai, Japan where he spent a year as an English language teacher. Wishing to experience as much of the world as possible, Michael chose an unusual route to return home. Taking a boat to Tainjin, China he traveled by rail from there to Lisbon, Portugal crossing over 20 countries and the entire length of Asia and Europe, a journey of more than 10,000 miles.
"I would like to use his scholarship at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland to work on the degree they offer tailored specifically toward environmental sustainability, a problem high on the agenda in the United Kingdom where 60 million people live in a nation with one of the highest urban densities." Michael said. He added, "My long term goal is to become a college professor. The prospect of studying as a Rotary scholar, an organization committed to a world vision reflective of my own, would allow me to take the next steps fulfilling the dreams of my life."
District Rotarians who interviewed the applicants included Chair Frank Erck of Hagerstown, Maryland; Dinah Courrier of Keyser, West Virginia and from Pennsylvania were Larry Powell of Huntingdon and Peggy Bronder of Bedford. Also assisting in the interviews were District Governor Jerry Friedman, District Governor Nominee Dr. Ron Keyser and Past District Governor Jack E. Murray.
Maintained by Paul Rutter, District Webmaster