From a humble beginning of just four students in 1946, Georgia Rotary Student Program (GRSP) has provided ambassadorial scholarships for more than 3,690 young men and women from 108 countries. During 2019-2020, the last year the program functioned, almost four dozen students from around the world were involved.

This 2021/2022 academic year, GRSP will welcome 43 international college students from South America, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe selected for the program. Conclave, the opening assembly for the incoming class, is open to all Rotarians and will be held August 19-21 in Thomasville, home of GRSP Founder William A. Watt Sr., past president for the Rotary Club of Thomasville and past district governor in Georgia.

New this year, Conclave will open with the inaugural Conclave Classic Golf Fundraiser on Thursday followed by a complimentary Big Birthday Party celebrating the 75^th anniversary of the founding of GRSP and the 100^th anniversary for the Rotary Club of Thomasville. The Rotary Club of Thomasville has partnered with Courtyard® by Marriott® Thomasville Downtown to commemorate Georgia Rotary Student Program’s 75^th milestone anniversary by creating the GRSP Peace Plaza and a Will Watt Memorial Fountain in honor of GRSP and its founder. GRSP Foundation Inc. has also partnered with them to fund the $100,000 project. Theplaza dedication will be held 11:30 a.m. on August 20.

Conclave will feature student introductions for the Class of 2021-22 plus Trustee and host families, a parade of flags, student Cabaret talent show Saturday, plus food and fellowship. The Conclave registration page for golf and general Conclave and/or hotel reservations can be made at www.grsp.org/conclave.

GRSP started the year following the end of World War II when a group of Rotarians from Georgia districts 6900, 6910, and 6920 came together to put into motion Watt’s vision of bringing students from war-torn Europe to study in state colleges and universities and learn about the American way of life.

The plan started and remains simple: each year’s students would be recommended by Rotary clubs in their home country. While selected students must meet the entrance criteria for the school they are chosen to attend, they are not selected only on academic performance alone. The University System of Georgia as well as private institutions recognized the value of the program early-on by waiving out-of-state registration fees, which considerably reduced the cost of the scholarships. In 2019, GRSP introduced the Direct College Selection scholarship, which allows clubs to partner with a college or university’s international admissions office to provide a full or partial scholarship to an already admitted student as an incentive for the student to select that institution.

Once selected to receive a GRSP scholarship, all students must be between the ages of 18 and 25, not have previously studied in the United States for longer than four months, not be married, or engaged to be married and not hold dual U.S. citizenship.  

GRSP pre-dates the Rotary Foundation’s Ambassadorial Scholarship Program and receives no funding from the Rotary Foundation.Students pay their own travel expenses, while their tuition and living expenses are funded by donations, grants and endowments, and Georgia Rotarians make an annual contribution to the program.

Students live on-campus at one of the more than thirty state or private colleges that are part of the project. However, each student also becomes an adopted member of a Georgia “host family.” Hosts meet their students at the airport and provide hospitality for them on weekends, holidays and semester breaks. Hosts also transport their students to GRSP events and eventually help them return home.

For donation opportunities, a program presentation and more information contact Katheryne A. Fields, GRSP Marketing and Development Director, 404-405-6806 mobile or email: [email protected].