And having met some Rotary scholars during my first year here, I was fine with not having won one, because frankly, I had both the finances and the motivation to come overseas by myself. Whereas one scholar I knew had never been out of the states, had grown up so poor that you ate what was on the table because there was nothing else in the house to eat, and had entered beauty pageants to win scholarships to fund her college education (I presume she won other scholarships as well). And I was thinking, *she* is the type of person who deserves a Rotary scholarship - determined, intelligent, and needing that boost that the scholarship could provide.
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And having met some Rotary scholars during my first year here, I was fine with not having won one, because frankly, I had both the finances and the motivation to come overseas by myself. Whereas one scholar I knew had never been out of the states, had grown up so poor that you ate what was on the table because there was nothing else in the house to eat, and had entered beauty pageants to win scholarships to fund her college education (I presume she won other scholarships as well). And I was thinking, *she* is the type of person who deserves a Rotary scholarship - determined, intelligent, and needing that boost that the scholarship could provide.