Hope the new year is looking bright for you! Just in case you're looking for something to get involved with in 2006, here's two things to get you thinking... the first is a Scholarship opportunity, the second is a voluntary youth group.

As some of you may know, a few months ago I was lucky enough to be awarded a Rotary Scholarship. Whenever I tell people about it, their reaction is always "How did I not hear of this before?!!"

Well, it's true, not enough people *do* hear about it. And as most of you lovely people would be ideal candidates, that's just not right :) So here goes...

The Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship is a phenomenal year-long €26,000 scholarship to study anything, anywhere in the world, as long as it furthers international goodwill and will in some way contributes to global understanding and development. There's an equal emphasis on your study results, and the difference you make while over there - you are expected to take on community or voluntary work, learn about your host country, and generally be a good Ambassador for Ireland.

The group that fund it is Rotary International ( www.rotary.org ), which is basically a global voluntary organisation that aims to find ways to serve the community, whether that be locally or internationally. Their byword is "Service above self", which sums it up. At the same time its a very social organisation, so they meet up regularly, plan events and fundraisers, and consider everyone within Rotary a friend they haven't yet met. When you go to your host country, you'll be met there by Rotararians who help you find accomodation, settle in, and learn about the place.

The application form contains quite a bit to think about - where you'd like to go, why you feel you'd be an asset to Rotary, how the Scholarship will help you achieve whatever it is you want in life... Once you've done that, you should give me a shout and I can explain it all in more detail.

The application deadline is in June, and there are a few other steps that need to be taken around then, but I can talk you through all that. I'll have more information and resources online later in the year (when I get a spare minute!). Bear in mind it is awarded a year in advance, so if you were applying this June, you wouldn't be going abroad until August/ September 2007.

I can't begin to explain what an opportunity it is, I really can't. Rotary is such a welcoming organisation, and even the application process was such a learning experience. If you think you're interested, I'll bend over backwards to help you out.

They only award one Scholarship annually in Ireland, so you'll need to have a very good idea of what it's all about and why you'd make a strong candidate. One of the ways you might like to do this is by getting involved in Rotaract. What is Rotaract, I hear you say? Aha...!

The best way to describe Rotaract is that it's like a society for after college! It's the Youth (18-30) branch of Rotary, and it has much the same aims: Personal development, voluntary service, meeting new people, trying new things... a bit like a cross between SVDP and AIESEC :)

Although there is a lot of centralised support, every Rotaract club sets its own agenda. So one club might run a musical fundraiser, another might organise guest speakers, or run an international project or stage a debate. www.rotaract.org.uk/ealing is an example of one club in the UK and what they do.

There are Rotaract clubs all around the world, but in Ireland it's only taking off. There's one club in Dublin at the moment, but there's a nationwide team being assembled and Rotary clubs around the country are looking to set up Rotaract clubs.

If you think you'd like to get involved - either in a local club, or on a nationwide level - just let me know! There's some more info here: http://www.rotaract.org.uk