A GROUP of Edinburgh school pupils have won seven out of just 70 places offered to applicants worldwide for a top American university scholarship programme.
The pupils at Portobello High School – which is struggling with outdated and crumbling buildings – went through an arduous application process to win the year-long scholarships, worth £13,000 each.
The youngsters, who leave for their experience of a lifetime in August, can apply for a year's study at any college or university in Georgia.
The programme is run by the state's Rotary Club, and was created after the Second World War to bring together young people from across the world in a bid to boost world peace.
Hundreds of people apply for the 70 places on the scheme every year – with ten per cent of this year's intake coming from Porty High.
This is the third year the school's students have won scholarships, with three students in 2006-7 and five in 2007-8. In 2006-7, only nine students from the whole of the UK were chosen.
Applicants must fill in a detailed application form, get written references from teachers and sit a five-hour SAT exam – a standard test for university admissions in America.
Assistant headteacher Stephen Reid works with the local Rotary Club to encourage pupils to apply. He said the school was investigating the options for trying to get four-year degree scholarships.
He said: "This is a fantastic opportunity and I like to send as many kids as I possibly can."
"The youngsters either use the year to do courses that will help them when they come back to Scotland or they do courses that they really want to do that they aren't able to do in Scotland.
"The kids come back completely different to when they went away because of the experiences they have out there and they are all very positive about it."
He added: "British universities are very positive about this."
Georgia boasts several leading universities, including the University of Georgia, one of the oldest in the US, and Georgia State in Atlanta.
Eighteen-year-old Brad Tait has applied to Georgia State to study maths, and intends to come back to Edinburgh next year to go to Heriot-Watt University to do electronic engineering.
He said: "I'm dead excited about it.
"The big thing I hope to get out of this is meeting new people and seeing things I probably wouldn't get the chance to see otherwise.
"It's a real opportunity that's well worth taking hold of."
Ken Hart, chairman of youth operations for the Rotary Club of Portobello, said: "Rotary is a worldwide organisation and the offer is made to all countries to make applications on behalf of their students to go and study in America.
"The aim is of gaining world peace and we try to instil in all the students that go that this is the underlying theme."
Councillor Marilyne MacLaren, the city's education leader, added: "I would like to wish them all the best of luck for their studies in Georgia – this is a fantastic opportunity for these young people.
"It is extremely encouraging to see that our talented pupils are being given this kind of recognition in other parts of the world."
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Georgia Rotary Student Programme•
University of Georgia •
Georgia State UniversityThe full article contains 559 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
