UI's Mackenzie Struble Wins Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship

MOSCOW – For the fourth time in the past six years, a representative of the Moscow Rotary Club was chosen to receive the Rotary District 5080 Ambassadorial Scholarship. The district extends from Orofino to the Tri-Cities and up into lower British Columbia.

Mackenzie Struble, from Moscow, is a member of the University of Idaho Honors Program, is a double major in French and classical studies and serves on the Honors Student Advisory Board. She plans to spend her year at the University of Perugia in Italy, beginning September, 2003.

Her project is aimed at raising the standard of spoken and written English in the foreign business community. After spending time abroad and learning foreign languages, she believes linguistic and cultural awareness is key to understanding of other countries and people. Such language and culture gaps are inevitable, she recognizes, but hopes to become a bridge in the international business and political arenas.

The Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship is one of the largest financial scholarships in the world and competition for it is especially keen. Its purpose is to further international understanding and friendly relations among people of different countries. Ambassadorial Scholarships are awarded for study or training in another country where Rotary clubs are located (over 122 countries).

Applicants must have completed at least two years of university work and have a familiarity with the language of the county selected. The award helps cover transportation, tuition, fees, room and board expenses, and some educational supplies -- up to $25,000.