Rotary District 5890

Dear Academic Year Ambassadorial Scholar Candidate,

Here are a few “tips” for your interview with the District 5890 Scholarship Committee:

1)Make sure that you understand what you are interviewing for, and understand the concept of the Ambassadorial Scholarship. See the “Profile of the Ideal Ambassadorial Scholarship Candidate” (attached)

2)Make sure that you can articulate why you are seeking this scholarship.

3)Be able to discuss the country of your first choice intelligently.

4)Stay up to date on current American events. Before the interview, read publications like Newsweek and the newspaper.

5)Be able to intelligently discuss the important political and economic situation in Houston and in Texas.

6)Try to visit your sponsoring Rotary Club, or a Rotary Club in your area, prior to your interview. If you can’t visit a Rotary Club prior to the interview, browse through “Rotary Basics Article” (attached) and view the Rotary International website

7)Be on time and dress appropriately.

8)Have a good time. The Rotarians are not professional interviewers. They are just people very interested in you and the other applicants, and are seeking the best “ambassadorial” representatives to study abroad.

9)Smile, be friendly, and be confident! You can do it!

Good luck!

Bill Barmore

Rotary District 5890 Scholarships

Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar Tips for Application Process

1) Know about Rotary, its missions, its programs (especially the goals of this particular program). This can easily be done by reading through Rotary materials online, attending local club meetings, and asking questions to others who have been apart of the program.

2) Know the local area you will be representing and be very enthusiastic about getting to speak abroad about it. Explain your connections to this area and express that you will be coming back eager to tell them all about what you learned. They raise $50,000+ for each scholarship, so they want to see their hard work come back to help their local community in some regard.

3) Stress being excited about the cultural exchange taking place, not the academic degree you hope to obtain. There are many other programs (Rhodes, Truman, Fulbright) that seem to be more academically based, Rotary’s scholarship is service-based and all about building goodwill and friendships abroad. Grades are important, but definitely not the end all for this scholarship program. DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED FROM APPLYING IF YOUR GRADES AREN’T AT THE TOP OF THE CLASS.

4) Highlight how you have lived beyond yourself by explaining service projects and any other activities that showed you look beyond your own needs. Make sure to include all ways you have helped or assisted others, even if modestly paid. Ex: working as a tutor for the athletic department pays you a little, but is more service than a job.

5) Become savvy about current international affairs and discuss how you have a global outlook. You will be going overseas and expected to be informed about recent developments because as an American abroad you WILL be asked about them. Make sure the local Rotary club and district interviewing community knows that you understand that globalization has brought the world closer together economically, and stress the importance of building relationships with tomorrow’s leaders today as being beneficial to the world community.

6) Listen very carefully to what is being asked during the essays and interview questioning. Respond directly to the questions.

7) BE PREPARED & ask any many questions as you can.

8) You lose the first time, APPLY AGAIN. I did and thus had an amazing year in The Netherlands.

Best of luck!

Corbett Daniel Parker

2005-06 Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar to the Netherlands

, 832-373-9496.