Amanda Wallas, who was recommended by the Rotary Club of Martha’s Vineyard, has won a scholarship award of $25,000 to spend one year abroad as a student and goodwill ambassador.

Ms. Wallas is a 2006 graduate of Connecticut College, where she majored in biological sciences and minored in film studies. After graduation she took a job with Plum Television on Martha’s Vineyard. She has worked on many Plum projects; she co-produced, filmed, and edited a show called Green Island, designed to help educate the Island community in environmentally sound practices.

Ms. Wallas has decided to pursue a career path in public health, hoping to combine her experience in film with science to help others through education and direct work in the field. She spent a semester in Peru, and was struck by typhoid fever, and got a close look at medical services in South America. She felt that if a future opportunity arose for her to work in South or Central America she would take it. The Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship will provide that opportunity. Her first choice for her year of study abroad is The University of Chile in Santiago, Chile. Amanda will begin her studies in the school year 2010-2011.

This is the second year in a row that an applicant from the Martha’s Vineyard Rotary Club has been chosen for this scholarship. The competition is among 65 Rotary clubs in the Cape, Islands, eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship was established in 1948 with 18 scholarships awarded. The program is international and has grown from the original 18 applicants to 32,000 clubs in 170 countries, where hundreds of scholars apply for 800 scholarships.

For details, call Harvey Hinds of the Rotary Club at 508-627-8427.