Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar - Korah Winn - 2006/2007

Background story:
It was a serendipitous encounter that helped me to first discover about the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship.  I ran into a woman named Cindy whose daughter was just returning from South Africa through a Rotary program.  I sighed and told Cindy how I would have loved to have done something like that in high school.  She informed me that Rotary has scholarships for all types of university students.  Rotary is an organization that wants to better the world and one of the ways they do it is by investing in people trusting that at some point they will give back and make the world a better place.  I looked in the phone book and contacted my local Rotary club in Rock Falls, Illinois and that is where the ball started rolling.  I found out that my own Rotary district had a deadline in June.  I applied and was then interviewed.  I find it sad to say but there were actually only four applicants for two $23,000 scholarships.  To me, this was the opportunity of a lifetime and I could not believe there was not a line for a mile straight waiting outside the door. 

Rotary is looking for people who are involved in their community whether it be volunteering, church activities, local kids clubs or the like.  They expect for you to do presentations at Rotary clubs in your host country during your year abroad and then also do several presentations for local Rotary clubs once you return home.  You can be at any stage of your education such as your undergrad, post grad or doctorate. 

The interview went well and within two months I was informed that I was selected as an ambassadorial scholar for 2006-2007.  I applied to several different universities.  The scholarship requires that you study outside of the United States which I had absolutely no problem with at all.  In January, I was told that Queen's University in Belfast was the school that Rotary preferred I attend so I just waited from that point on to see if I was accepted.  It was an exciting day when I finally received my acceptance letter and began making arrangements to move to Belfast in September.  I had to secure a visa, travel insurance and work through a myriad of other details but it was all worth it once I was on the plane to begin a new life in the United Kingdom.

I arrived on September 14, 2006 and my life has been a constant, exciting whirlwind since that time.  I love my course of study which is Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).  My host club is the Antrim Rotary club here and am a volunteer English teacher with the Northern Ireland Committee for Refugees and Asylum Seekers.  Through that I've been able to help students from The Ivory Coast, China, Sudan, Iraq and Iran.  I live with a group of 15 amazing women from different parts of the world.  They challenge me to see life differently and learn about different cultures.  I am currently a part of the Queen's Canoe/Kayak club and I already went with them on a fun water weekend to Gortin.  I teach swing dancing once a week with a local Belfast man and I also got involved with a nearby church.  It's my hope that I will be able to a lot of all of Ireland and travel to some different parts of Europe while I am here.  I will be gone for a total of one year and I know that will pass more quickly than I could ever imagine.  I want to make the most of this experience because I want to be the kind of teacher who can open the world to her students because other's have unlocked it for her.  

I would recommend that you poke around Rotary's website and see if there might be any programs that apply to you.  They are always doing some sort of group or professional exchanges in addition to other educational programs.  If you are interested in the scholarship that I am here on then here is a link with all the relevant information pertaining to the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship. 
 http://www.rotary.org/foundation/educational/amb_scho/index.html 

Also, I am currently writing stories about my experiences in Northern Ireland and life in general.  If you are interested in learning more, you can check my entries out at www.dovewithin.com which is my personal website.

- Korah Winn, March 2007