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District 7350 |
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District 7350 |
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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 2007-08 scholarship, timetable, and application are available or by contacting Frank Erck, 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 2006-2007 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, and Canada.
District Announces Winner of 2006 Ambassadorial Scholarship
The Rotary District 7350 Scholarship Committee met in August 13, 2005 to interview four candidates for the 2006 Ambassadorial Scholarship from its district which covers parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. After reviewing the applications and one hour interviews with each of the young adults, the committee selected Pamela Scorza of Shepherdstown, West Virginia for the $26,000 award.
Born and raised in Shepherdstown; Pamela attended Jefferson High School and graduated from Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania in 2001. Pamela enrolled in New York University in the fall and while there, was employed part time in the Public Interest Center at the NYU School of Law during her freshman and sophomore years. There she became involved in the Homelessness Outreach and Prevention Program (HOPP). This experience, working with people in dire need, encouraged her to spend her junior year in Ecuador, South America and half of her senior year in Ghana, Africa in the NYU Study Abroad program before returning to receive her BA degree in anthropology from NYU in May of this year.
Pamela plans to use her scholarship working toward a master's degree in Public Health at the University of Ghana in Africa. "This is very exciting as the public health masters degree there works closely on projects with the World Health Organization and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In addition to taking challenging classes, it is important to me to always be involved in hands-on development projects," she said. She compared Rotary's goals of greater understanding and world peace to something Ghandi once said "you must be the change you wish to see in the world."
District 7350 Governor Jack Murray of Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, said that it was Pamela's examples of her accomplishments in her undergraduate experiences that "convinced the selection committee that she would continue to achieve her future career goals and was worthy of receiving their assistance. Whether it was working with the homeless in New York City, teaching English to underprivileged children in Ecuador, or working to produce a movie on the dangers of AIDS in Ghana, Pam showed creativity and leadership skills that are possessed by very few young people her age."
Members of the District Scholarship Committee include chair
Frank Erck of Hagerstown, Maryland; Rotarians from West Virginia: Dr. David
Dunlop, President of Shepherd University, Shepherdstown, and Dinah Courrier
of Keyser; and from Pennsylvania: Mike Wagner of Altoona, Dr. Carol Hewitt
of Hollidaysburg, and Larry Powell of Huntingdon. Also assisting in the interviews
were District Governor Jack E. Murray, District Governor Elect Jerry Friedman,
and Past District Governor Kelly Wike.
Maintained by Paul Rutter, District Webmaster