Will These Dartmouth Grads End Global Poverty? A $21 Million Scholarship Is Betting Yes
Dartmouth College’s largest endowed scholarship program for international students is about to get a whole lot bigger—to the tune of $21 million.
The gift, announced this week by Bob and Dottie King from the class of ’57, more than doubles their previous investment and now totals over $35 million, according to the university. But for those looking to get a piece of the pie, note that the scholarship isn’t for just any foreign applicant.
The number of international students who study abroad in the U.S. is at an all-time high, and while most come from large, fast-growing cities and often pursue STEM or business majors, the King Scholar Leadership Program specifically aims to attract students from developing countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia interested in global poverty alleviation. The goal: to provide young people with development experience and exposure so they can create positive change in their own communities.
“What makes this program unique and successful is twofold,” Bob King said in a statement this week. “It brings exceptional students who have themselves lived in poverty and encourages them to use their perspective to make real change happen. Dottie and I want to change lives country by country, and we believe these scholars are the best investment we can make in the future.”
Scholarships are awarded to students who exhibit exceptional academic excellence and a commitment to fighting poverty in their respective countries, according to the school. Candidates are identified during the admissions process, and all applicants from developing countries are eligible. To date, six King Scholars from Burkina Faso, Jamaica, Kenya, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe have been enrolled since the program’s inception, and the plan is to award scholarships to 50 more students over the next decade.
For current King Scholar Faith Rotich, the New Hampshire campus is a long way from her hometown of Eldoret, Kenya. The 20-year-old freshman spent the first 13 years of her life in Mount Elgon, a rural region enveloped in poverty, but was lucky enough to have parents who were invested in her education from an early age. She excelled in grade school and “worked really hard,” she said, to eventually graduate at the top of her high school class. Wanting to explore better opportunities, she applied to universities in the U.S.—with Dartmouth’s King Scholar program a major draw.
The college was equally impressed by Rotich, whose goal is to one day open her own school for girls in Mount Elgon.
“I hope to build a rescue center for girls. Very few people have been educated well enough to qualify for good jobs and be able to do something with their lives, especially girls,” she told TakePart. “Very few girls get a good education, and they get married too young.”
The scholarship looks to provide students like Rotich with a variety of experiences that will help them execute leadership roles in the development sector. New features to the program this year include a weeklong trip to New York City and Washington, D.C., to visit development organizations, government agencies, and private-sector firms. Juniors and seniors in the program will also have an opportunity to intern at organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
“Dartmouth is becoming a powerful magnet for talented students from developing nations who seek to eradicate poverty and foster opportunity,” President Phil Hanlon said in a statement. “It is a bold initiative that will benefit students, create an international cadre of young leaders committed to this issue, and truly help improve the world."
Despite hailing from a country thousands of miles away, it seems as though Rotich is embracing the highs and lows of college life in much the same way as her American peers.
“So far it’s been really good, really different,” she said. “There’s just so many people. I’ve loved the community here and the sense of belonging since my first day. We have the quarter system, which is a bit intense, and everything goes so fast, but I think I’m getting used to it.”
Related stories on TakePart:
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• 5 College Majors With the Lowest Unemployment, and 5 With the Highest
• Why the World’s Fastest-Growing Economy Wants to Pay Parents to Have Girls
Original article from TakePart
