Sarah Sanderson received a Rotary Peace Fellowship and was selected to go to Tokyo for two years of training. She currently works for the U.S. State Department as a foreign service officer at a U.S. Consulate in northern China. She participated in our Zoom meeting from China.
The Rotary Peace Fellowship is Rotary's number one initiative for promoting peace throughout the world. Since the program's inception in 2002, Rotary Peace Centers have trained more than 1,300 fellows now working in more than 115 countries in a variety of capacities. The fellowship is noteworthy insofar as it covers all of a fellow's fees, including tuition, room and board and travel.
A native of Holland, Michigan, Sarah's fellowship application was supported by the Holland Rotary Club. Her two-year stint in Japan included intensive Japanese language training. The focus of her thesis on language education was on infusing issues such as the environment and human rights into language teaching.
Sarah's next stop was at the U.S. Embassy in Mozambique, where she learned the job of a U.S. diplomat. She took the Foreign Service Test and became a Foreign Service Officer. After attending what was essentially boot camp for diplomats in Washington, DC, Sarah was sent to her first (and present) post in China Her duties there include deciding on visa applications. She particularly enjoys getting to know locals at weekly lectures and English clubs.
An impressive speaker from an impressive program!