Washington and Jefferson College to woo deserving Lankan students

Thursday, 12 July 2012 01:16 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Dr. Tori Haring-Smith, President Washington and Jefferson College (W&J) in Washington, Pennsylvania, and Dr. Bob Haring-Smith recently hosted visiting recruiters from Sri Lanka Priyanthi and Padmasena Dissanayake of Scholarships for USA (Pvt.) Ltd. (www.scholarshipsforusa.com) to dinner at President’s house along with Al Newell, VP Enrollment and Byron McCrea, VP Student Life.

W&J in partnership with SUSA is exploring all possibilities as to how it could help many of Sri Lanka’s deserving youth to have access to US Liberal Arts and Sciences education in order to become global professionals.

President Tori Haring-Smith, a Watson fellow in early 70s who went on to become its head of administration in early 00’, is a firm believer in global experience and was naturally inquisitive of the island nation’s only known recipient of the prestigious Watson grant Sulo Dissanayake (Bates College ‘09) who also happens to be a theatre major! She also explained about her own project for W&J students - Magellan -supporting students who wish to pursue interesting projects during college life. Its summer funding begins from the freshman year continuing through senior year leading to marketable internships. Magellan takes W&J students to many parts of the globe including the continental US, enriching their experiences far beyond what any school can teach its students. The past experiences have shown how much these experiences have enriched W&J alumni giving them exceptional advantages at graduate schools, in their professions, and even in their personal lives.

Dissanayakes, being grateful to the amazing scholarships W&J has agreed to offer to Lankan stars, requested the President to make Sri Lanka a future destination for Magellan fellows. They also briefed her of the proposed collaboration with one of the leading institutes in Sri Lanka where its brightest would seamlessly transfer to W&J to complete the final two years and emerge with Magellan experience and a world-class degree.

Listening to anecdotes of a President who has spent an exemplary life moulding youth, the visitors were most amazed to hear about the W&J alumni who went on to conquer the world. One of the stories that impressed them most was how, among the six leaders President Obama recently handpicked to advise him on healthcare, two were alumni of W&J.