4 Lawrence students earn Rotary scholarships

APPLETON (LU) - Three Lawrence University students have been awarded Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarships for the 2010-11 academic year and a fourth has been named a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar for 2011-12.

Jamie Gajewski, Natalie Grattan and Sonya Weston are among more than 500 students from 29 countries who have been named Rotary Scholars and awarded $25,000 scholarships for a year of graduate studies abroad beginning this fall. Sarah Ehlinger was awarded a scholarship beginning Fall 2011.

Grattan’s and Ehlinger’s scholarships were awarded through the Appleton Rotary Club and Rotary District 6220.

The Ambassadorial Scholarships provide students opportunities to study at participating universities in the 200 countries and geographical areas where Rotary clubs are active. While abroad, the scholars serve as “goodwill ambassadors” for their home countries by participating in community service projects and speaking at local Rotary club events, civic organizations and other forums.

Gajewski, who graduated last December with a major in Spanish, will study Arabic at Egypt’s Alexandria University. She also plans to work on a volunteer projected focused on Egypt's rural poverty or the empowerment of women. She received her scholarship through the Madison Rotary Club and Rotary District 6250.

Grattan, a senior from Vancouver, Wash., majoring in biochemistry, will attend the University of Otago in Wellington, New Zealand to study public health. She plans to pursue medical school at the University of Washington when she returns and hopes to eventually work with the World Health Organization.

Weston, a 2007 Lawrence graduate from Macomb, Ill., will attend the School of International Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, pursuing coursework in Indian politics, history and society, focusing on the social and political implications of India’s burgeoning economic transformation. She also will undertake intensive Hindi language study.
Weston, sponsored by the Macomb Rotary Club Macomb, Ill., is currently working as a research assistant at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C.

As a 2011-12 Rotary Scholar, Ehlinger, a junior from Wauwatosa, will have to wait a year before she heads to the University of Ghana in the capital city of Accra. While her interests include environmental hazards and human health, she is still deciding where to focus her studies.

Focused on humanitarian service, personal diplomacy and academic excellence, the Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarships program is one of the world’s largest privately sponsored international scholarship programs. Established in 1947, the program has sponsored more than 40,000 scholars and counts among its alumni former U.S. Ambassador to India and 1959 Lawrence graduate David Mulford, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker Jr. and Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Roger Ebert.