So there I was: my 3rd year of college, my first batch of student loans, my parents asking what I was going to “do with my life,” and my travel bug itching me like crazy. I had studied abroad in Rome, Italy for a semester and then in The Netherlands for a summer semester and I was dying to find a way to go overseas for grad school — without taking out any more loans. All I could find were research-based programs and I was having a hard enough time writing my Honors Thesis… why would I want to go sit in a library on the other side of the world? I didn’t even like doing it down the street! That’s when I heard about the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship — one of my professors mentioned it to me. She said it was a scholarship to study overseas for a year, and it wasn’t research. That’s all I needed to know! I was SOLD.

I applied, I got it, and it changed my life. Turns out it was a $20,000 scholarship, but better than that, it introduced me into a community of people worldwide who were worth much, much more. It introduced me to Rotary — the world’s largest service organization. I wasn’t even interested in service before I was a Rotary Scholar. Sure I did a few charity walks, a few toy drives, Dance Marathon — but nothing like this. These were people whose lives were devoted to making the world a better place. “Service Above Self” — that’s the Rotary motto. I loved it. I wanted to change the world for the better, just like they did. I was changed for good.

Natalie, my best friend and college roommate, thought it all sounded pretty sweet! She figured, “If Christina can do it, I can do it!” And she was right. She applied, she got the Rotary scholarship, and spent a year spreading making friends and spreading goodwill and cheer around the world too. We were stoked.

After we both got back from South America, we learned that Rotary doesn’t get nearly enough applicants for this scholarship — or any of their youth/young adult programs. And the more research we did (OK — the more research Natalie did) we found there were lots of other organizations with opportunities like these, but no one knows about all these crazy awesome opportunities! Madness! That’s when we decided to start iNspired Generation.

At iNspired Generation make it our job to connect young people to crazy awesome opportunities and crazy awesome people who believe they too can improve the world.

We hope you will join us on this mission. Happy travels!