SCHOLARSHIPS THEN AND NOW
Rotary has served Hamilton for 106 years since the Rotary Club of Hamilton was chartered on August 1, 1913 as the 82nd Rotary Club in the world.
One way Rotary serves is by investing in our future leaders by funding scholarships for their university studies abroad. From 1947 to 2013, Rotary’s Ambassadorial Scholarships Program was the world’s largest privately funded international scholarship program.
Over the years, many Canadian Ambassadorial Scholars studied abroad, such as Former Governor General David Johnston who studied law at Cambridge University; and many foreign Ambassadorial Scholars studied at Canadian universities, including McMaster.
In 2002, Rotary supplemented Ambassadorial Scholarships with fully funded Rotary Peace Fellowships to educate future leaders in peacebuilding and conflict management at Rotary Peace Centers in six universities around the world.
Each year Rotary funds 100 Rotary Peace Fellowships – 50 for Masters Studies and 50 for a 3-month intensive Professional Development Certificate Program. Applicants are recruited, interviewed and recommended by the +35,000 Rotary Clubs and 550 Rotary Districts worldwide resulting an annual global competition with approximately 1,500 applicants for the 100 fellowships.
Today, more than 1,200 Rotary Peace Fellows have graduated who are working towards peace and conflict prevention around the globe. Unfortunately, the applicants recommended by Rotary Clubs in Hamilton were unsuccessful in becoming Rotary Peace Fellows.
In 2013, Rotary’s Ambassadorial Scholarships were replaced by Global Grant Scholarships, as part of a new funding system introduced throughout Rotary. Since 2013, the number of Global Grant Scholarships has decreased significantly from the volume of Ambassadorial Scholarships in the previous decades.
This was the situation in November 2018 when Hamilton’s newest Rotary Club - Tonic After Five – set up its Scholarships Committee. Gordon Crann, Chair, has announced that - Tonic After Five's Scholarships Committee's efforts over the past year have resulted in the Rotary Club of Hamilton Tonic After Five being the lead Rotary Club in five Rotary Scholarships worth in total approximately US$350,000 as follows:
- Hamilton’s first Global Grant Scholarship supporting a brilliant, young Maori doctor Matt Wheeler from Wellington, New Zealand doing medical research at McMaster University on thrombosis a major cause of heart disease in Maori and Pacific Islanders – US$30,000;
- Hamilton’s first Rotary Peace Fellow in the Professional Development Certificate Program at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand – McMaster University Alumna and Sheridan College Professor in English and Communications Sonia Persaud – US$20,000;
- Hamilton’s first Rotary Peace Fellow in the Masters Program at International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan – Mohawk College Alumna and YWCA Early Childhood Educator Salma Sultana – US$100,000;
- Rotary Peace Fellow in the Masters Program at the University of Bradford in England - US Peace Corps Volunteer Shannon Carter from Michigan and currently serving in Ukraine where she has been trailblazing a new youth leadership development collaboration between US Peace Corps and Rotary – US$100,000; and
- Rotary Peace Fellow in the Masters Program at International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan – Youth Project Manager at International Secretariat for Water (ISW) Natalija Vojno in Montreal, Quebec - US$100,000.
The club's Scholarships Committee is now working with an exceptionally talented young woman Tara Jamieson from Guelph on developing a future Rotary Global Grant Scholarship Application. Tara did her undergraduate studies in the Music Therapy Program at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, one of the top music schools in the world. After interning at the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital, then working as a music therapist with disabled children in Austin, Texas, Tara decided she could do more for disabled children by going to medical school to become a pediatrician.
Unfortunately, because her undergraduate degree was in music – not pre-med sciences – she failed to be admitted to a medical school in Canada. Only one medical school offered her a spot – the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), where she is now in 2nd year. Even though she lacked a pre-med science background, Tara received the equivalent of straight As in all her first-year medical school courses, while simultaneously being a Semi-Finalist on the popular reality TV show “Ireland’s Got Talent”.
Pictured above: Scholarships Committee Members welcoming Rotary Global Grant Scholar Matt Wheeler and his family at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
Over the years, many Canadian Ambassadorial Scholars studied abroad, such as Former Governor General David Johnston who studied law at Cambridge University; and many foreign Ambassadorial Scholars studied at Canadian universities, including McMaster.
The club's Scholarships Committee is starting to recruit Rotary Peace Fellowship Applicants for the club to coach, interview and recommend from February to May 2020. If you or someone you know has what it takes to be a future leader in peacebuilding and conflict prevention, then please contact Scholarships Committee Chair Gordon Crann via email at rotarycrann@gmail.com.