McConnell Scholar Hunter Davis wins Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to New Zealand

Hunter Davis, a senior McConnell Scholar from Ashland, is one of four students in Kentucky to earn a 2011 Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship.

As part of the scholarship, Davis will spend a year in New Zealand and study for a master's degree in international law and politics at the University of Canterbury. He will also work with local teenagers to help introduce a civic education program at an area high school.

"I pursued this as an opportunity to further my education for an increasingly global world that demands knowledge of cultures very different from our own," Davis said. "Rotary provides the opportunity to combine international education with service, and that really stood out to me over other scholarships," added Davis, who regularly volunteers with the Ronald McDonald House, University of Louisville Dance Marathon (for Kosair Charities), Project Warm and other area service programs.

Davis will leave for New Zealand in February 2012.

Davis is currently the historian for the University of Louisville's Rotaract, a service-based organization.

This marks the second consecutive year a McConnell Scholar has received a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship; Robert Works, a 2010 McConnell Scholar graduate, was awarded the scholarship to Mexico for 2010-2011.