CONWAY, Ark.
(June 21, 2019) – Hendrix College alumna Rachel Zweig ’16, a native of
Fayetteville, Ark., has been awarded a $30,000 Rotary International Global
Grant funded by The Rotary Foundation Mary Doyle Endowed Global Grant Scholarship
Fund. This grant represents a partnership between Rotary District 6170 in Arkansas and The Rotary Club of
Ede-Kernhern located
in Rotary
District 1560
in the Netherlands.
Zweig
double-majored in chemistry and mathematics at Hendrix, spent a semester
studying abroad in Chile, served as co-captain of the varsity women’s soccer
team, was initiated into Phi Beta Kappa, and was a 2016-17 Fulbright Research
Grantee to Spain. After her Fulbright experience, she moved to Morocco, where
her immersion in agricultural life there kindled an interest in helping
small-scale farmers.
Her Rotary
scholarship funds will soon take her to The Netherlands to pursue a master’s
degree in the Earth and Environment Program at Wageningen University.
“With the help of the Rotary
scholarship, I will be able to build upon several of my long-held interests—sustainability,
agriculture, helping others, working in the dirt, entrepreneurship, and
learning new cultures and languages—and upon my Hendrix degrees of chemistry
and mathematics (via modelling and critical thinking) to study soil chemistry and
sustainable agriculture at the best agriculture university in the world,” Zweig
said. “And, being a recipient of a Rotary Global Grant will allow me to participate in a global network to help
further my and Rotary’s goal of service.”
After she
completes her master’s degree, Zweig plans to work with small-scale farmers
worldwide, with the aim of improving the productivity and the nutrient value of
their crops—goals that may prove particularly crucial in the face of climate
change.
About the Rotary Foundation
The mission of The Rotary Foundation is to enable Rotary members to advance
world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the
support of education, and the alleviation of poverty. The Foundation is a
not-for-profit corporation supported solely by voluntary contributions from
Rotary members and friends of the Foundation who share its vision of a better
world. This support is essential to make possible projects, funded with
Foundation grants, that bring sustainable improvement to communities in need.
About
Hendrix College
A private liberal arts
college in Conway, Arkansas, Hendrix College consistently earns recognition as
one of the country’s leading liberal arts institutions, and is featured in Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That
Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges. Its academic quality and
rigor, innovation, and value have established Hendrix as a fixture in numerous
college guides, lists, and rankings. Founded in 1876, Hendrix has been
affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. To learn more, visit
www.hendrix.edu.