Chestertown, MD, July 31, 2006 — Astra Haldeman, a Washington College senior and daughter of Bill and Suze Haldeman of Florence, NJ, has been awarded one of 16 Ambassadorial Scholarships sponsored by Rotary International for study abroad in 2007-2008. Haldeman, who is majoring in art and anthropology, was sponsored by the Chestertown Rotary Club and selected by Rotary District 7630. She won the scholarship in competition with two other finalists. The scholarship, valued at $26,000, will provide funding to help cover round-trip transportation, tuition, fees, room and board expenses, and educational supplies for one year of post-graduate study after Haldeman has completed her senior year at Washington College.
"I want to combine my interests in art and anthropology to the study the display and preservation of cultural artifacts," said Haldeman, who maintains a 3.8 GPA in both of her majors. "I plan to pursue museum studies, and the universities that I have identified all have different programs in this area."
She hopes to study in New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, or the West Indies, and will learn in November which program Rotary has selected for her.
An active volunteer in her hometown of Florence, NJ, and in Chestertown, Haldeman has donated her time to the Sultana Project and Habitat for Humanity. She is also an active member and past president of the Washington College Student Environmental Alliance and Service Council. In Florence, she has served as a member of the town's landfill committee, a citizens environmental group, and she has spent time as a licensed sailing instructor at the Delaware River Sailing School.
Haldeman's plans to build a career on her majors of art and anthropology, as well as her deep commitment to community service, fit well with the scholarship program's objectives and the values of Rotary International.
The Ambassadorial Scholarship program offered by the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International is the world's largest privately funded international scholarships program for university-level studies. In addition to Haldeman, the Chestertown Rotary Club has helped three other local students expand their horizons through graduate study abroad during the past 10 years, including two Washington College graduates—Jennifer Reddish in 1996-1997 and Jennifer Dougherty in 1997-1998—and most recently Taylor Scribner Spear, a graduate of the University of Vermont, who studied in England during 2004-2005.
Washington College is a private, independent college of liberal arts and sciences located in historic Chestertown on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, it was the first college chartered in the new nation.
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