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2025–2026 ROTARY GLOBAL GRANT SCHOLAR A Personal Interview As shared with Rotarian Kitty Bucsko 2026
A ROTARY STORY · LEAH HOLT
A Rotary Story — Leah Holt 2025–2026 Rotary Global Grant Scholar, hosted by the Rotary Club of District 6330 Passport
Leah Holt's Rotary story starts in an alumni office at the University of Central Missouri, where a Rotarian named Jackie Jackson spent nearly two years quietly paying attention before she ever said the word “Rotary” out loud. It carries Leah through a research trip to Costa Rica, a nerve-wracking interview with eleven Rotarians she was unsure she would win, a unanimous vote, and a Master of Public Health at Western University in London, Ontario — where she was welcomed by Rotarian Sue and the Rotary Club of District 6330 Passport. Here is Leah's story, in her own words. Written from a conversation with Leah Holt in August 2026
Leah Holt
Before I Knew About Rotary I was working in the University of Central Missouri's (UCM) Alumni Association office, and that's really where this whole story starts. There were a couple of Rotarians working there that I'd built relationships with, just from working alongside them — though at the time I didn't think of it that way. I'd actually landed that job through a Rotarian who was vice-president of the office that sponsored a club I happened to belong to on campus. It was all kind of by chance, honestly, just by chance. I was a health studies major with a minor in Nutrition, though I started out in radiologic technology. I've always been interested in health and helping people. One day, a professor in health studies started talking to me about social determinants of health, and I remember being floored by it. We did projects on it, I ended up really loving it, and I switched my major.
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After changing my major, I did research through the McNair Scholars Program — my own independent project on the lived experience of teenage pregnancy. I was really involved on campus, I was in so many clubs. I was a member of the Health Studies Student Leadership Committee, where I helped with recruitment, running wellness events around mental health and other engagements in the Health Studies department. I was in the Honours College and on the executive board for the multicultural women's group while I was simultaneously working in the alumni office and at a local bank.
Jackie, Just Paying Attention I met Jackie Jackson at the first event I worked for the Alumni Ambassadors club. I had signed up to work a session at Get the Red Out, and that's honestly how the job at the alumni office happened too — meeting her at that first event is how it all fell into place. She wasn't “Rotary” to me at first. I remember volunteering to help her at a table that was working with veterans at the Get the Red Out event — a UCM school spirit event, though I'm still not sure if the table was for Rotary or just the Alumni Association. She informed me of a position that would be opening in the office and told me she'd keep in touch. For a long while, there was no talk of Rotary directly to me at all. Jackie would just keep up with me. She'd hear what the office was talking about, what I was doing.
“I think that was the biggest thing about her — she really just paid attention to what was going on in the office, what was going on with me.” She got to see me evolve a lot — from when I first arrived at UCM to the moment she finally offered me the chance to apply for the scholarship.
The McNair Scholars and TRIO The McNair Scholars Program is named in honour of astronaut Ronald E. McNair. It is a federally funded programme that helps universities prepare eligible students — many of whom are firstgeneration university students, from low-income backgrounds, or from groups underrepresented in graduate education — for advanced study and research. It's part of a group of federal TRIO programmes in the States, and this one is aimed specifically at students like me: a lot of us are firstgeneration, the first in our families to go to university. Not every school has it. Not every school with a TRIO programme even has this particular one. We were fortunate to be part of it, and at my school, people held it in pretty high regard. There's a lot of warmth around being in that programme, because it's looked at with a lot of respect and admiration.
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A ROTARY STORY · LEAH HOLT
A Trip to Costa Rica By the time Jackie really started talking to me about Rotary, I was already heavily thinking about graduate school — but only in the States. I studied abroad in Costa Rica, in May of 2024, but I didn't know how attainable it was to go out of the country for graduate school. A professor in my department had spearheaded the trip so we could study Costa Rica's healthcare system up close. I even ended up doing a small research project of my own while I was there. Costa Rica is frequently ranked among the top ten happiest countries in the world — and its healthcare system is relatively good on a global scale. We wanted to know why. We visited hospitals and studied the collectivist mindset there — they really believe in community, which was refreshing to see. We looked at the wait times in their public system and the private hospitals too, which had started opening up with the intent of relieving the wait times. The trip took some time to set up. You can't just walk into another country's hospitals and start looking around — you need somebody on the ground to receive you, somebody to make the connection. I went in wanting to be exposed to another healthcare system, and I came home changed by it. I think that trip is part of why, when Jackie finally handed me that packet, going abroad again didn't feel so impossible.
The Rotary Grant Packet Before Jackie brought me the packet, I already knew a little about Rotary. Years earlier, while in community college, I worked at a bank, and the branch manager I worked under was a Rotarian herself — the Rotary Club of Parkville held their meetings in our bank's basement, and I'd run into them sometimes. I remembered they campaigned for a really nice new sidewalk in town — there was a lot of construction with a lot of grumbling from customers about the road being shut down, and Debbie, the branch manager, would just say, “But it's going to be a nice sidewalk.” And it really was. So, I already knew Rotary did things for the community. I knew about their initiatives, their health work. So, when Jackie finally said, “I've got this on my mind, I'll bring you the packet,” and then she did, I read through it and thought, this seems pretty cool. I've heard of Rotary before and I've seen them. Later, it was actually very difficult to choose just one of Rotary's seven areas of focus — I felt like I could build a whole career around almost any one of them.
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Choosing One Path Dr. Charles Sampson, who works with the scholarship at the district level, called me not long after I'd turned in my pre-application on October 15th. He told me, “Jackie is really advocating for you” — and he kept reminding me of that, like he wanted to be sure I understood what I had in my corner. Then he called again and told me I needed to pick just one area of focus, and to really lean into my sponsors — talk to them, don't be afraid to ask questions. It was a new experience for everyone, honestly, because my Rotary club hadn't sponsored a Global Grant Scholar before. To apply, you need someone from the club to vouch for you, and then the club president has to sign off too. When I met with them, they told me, “If Jackie's vouching for you, we trust her judgment, and we like what we hear.” I really didn't want to let Jackie down after that. I took a lot of care with the application — more than usual, even for me.
Fifty Years Earlier In a wild coincidence, one of my mentors from the McNair programme had done this scholarship herself — back when it was still called the Ambassadorial Scholarship — almost fifty years before I came asking her about it. When I mentioned Rotary to her, she lit up. “I was a scholar for them,” she told me. She started guiding me ahead of my interview: really think about how this aligns with you, she said. Do your research. Learn about the organisation and think about if you're actually connected to this. I did the work again, even more carefully this time. And that's when I started to get a little nervous.
Interview Day I interviewed on December 7th, 2024. It was a committee of about eleven people, all sitting around a table, and you go in alone. Each of them asks you one or two questions. I remember thinking, receiving the scholarship would be such a great opportunity, and trying to remain composed, because fifty thousand dollars is a lot of money and I genuinely couldn't wrap my head around actually getting it. It felt a little like buying a lottery ticket — you hope, but you don't expect. It was a three-hour drive, but I was just grateful for the opportunity to even be considered. Right before my interview, everyone went out for a break, and they were all smiling at me on their way out. In the interview, I saw that they'd each printed out my entire application and highlighted in places, which made me nervous at first. But it turned into one of my favourite interviews I've ever done. At some point their questions stopped feeling planned and started feeling like real curiosity. One woman on the committee told me, “I'm so proud of you.” I believe she went on to become district governor not long after. It felt good. It felt really good. Later that night, they emailed to say I'd been selected. Jackie later told me it was a unanimous vote, which still kind of amazes me. I later learned that the woman who'd interviewed right before me was
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offered a scholarship too. This was the first year they'd ever offered two scholarships at once. However, since my district hadn't chosen anyone the year before, they were able to make it happen. I found her on LinkedIn afterward. She's every bit as qualified and impressive as you'd guess, and I was genuinely happy they found a way to say yes to both of us.
Choosing Western After I was selected, I looked at schools, and it came down to Western University (London, Ontario) and Imperial College London (England). I chose Western for its Master of Public Health programme. Once I had my acceptance, everything moved fast. I had to work out my budget, my admission, my plan — and my study permit, which I needed to start right away, especially since Canada had just changed its immigration policy that same October. Dr. Sampson helped me through most of it. There's a lot Rotary handles on the back end that you never see; my part was mostly making sure I had the pieces they needed — the budget, the admission, the permit, etc. I submitted everything sometime that spring, and by June of 2025, I was approved.
Arriving in London — and Meeting Sue Part of the application process is making sure there's a receiving club on the other end, and that's how I got connected with Rotarian Sue Storie, in London, Ontario — Dr. Sampson helped orchestrate finding her and the District 6330 Passport Club. What's wonderful about Sue is how familiar she already was with the whole process of hosting a scholar! Once that was settled, I joined my first club meeting that July. Dr. Sampson walked me through the reporting side of things — what I could spend the grant money on, what I couldn't, how carefully I needed to track expenses. I remember calling Jackie just to double-check, “Can I buy this?” I wasn't nervous about the money itself so much as I really didn't want to jeopardise the opportunity.
“Sue took such good care of me. When it was American Thanksgiving, she cooked me a full meal — and when I got sick and couldn't come to her house for it, she dropped it off for me instead.” A home-cooked meal, when you're away from home and don't have family nearby, means so much more than people realise. When I first arrived, Sue and her husband, Rick, picked me up and showed me around town. And even after that, she'd randomly check in — to see if I wanted to get breakfast or did I need to stop at the store. Those little things mattered enormously, especially being this far from home.
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What Rotary Has Meant to Me When I think about my Rotary story, what strikes me most is how much of it came down to chance — and how many people were quietly in my corner the whole time. You do the hard work yourself, but somebody has to be paying attention enough to look, and sometimes somebody has to put two and two together for you. Jackie did that. Dr. Sampson did that. My mentor from McNair did that.
“Those are fond memories to look back on — knowing I had people rooting for me.”
Looking Ahead My time here has been bittersweet to think about. I really did enjoy London, and Canada more generally — even though people love to tell me Toronto's the better city. I'm staying until early September, and after that, my plan right now is to go home, though I'm applying for jobs pretty broadly: Canada, the States, or even further. I do have an internship lined up already, part-time, based out of Geneva but fully remote. They work closely with the World Health Organization on vaccination and global health projects, so it will let me keep that global-health thread going, wherever I land.
“I'm a really big believer in leaving something better than what you found it. I'd absolutely love to give back to the same initiatives I've taken part in.” As for Rotary — I've definitely considered it. I think the flexibility of something like the Passport Club would suit me well, especially jumping straight into a career and juggling everything that comes with it. So, this won't be the end for me. I just have to figure out what it looks like.
Home and Family I'm from Kansas City — I grew up on both the Kansas and Missouri sides, so I always just say Kansas City and let people sort out the rest. I have nine siblings. I'm the third youngest, with two younger than me and everyone else older. I just turned 25 this past May. I come from a big, loud, wonderfully mismatched family. My mom and my dad are almost total opposites — it's honestly funny how different they are — but somehow it works. Growing up with that many different personalities taught me more than almost anything else: how to share, how to be patient, how to compromise. I like to joke that there isn't really a personality type I haven't met before. My family is coming up for my convocation in October, actually — and if any Rotarians would like to come too, they're more than welcome.
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What Comes Next I'm nervous about what comes next — change always is unsettling — but I always try to embrace it. I'm excited to see what happens.
“I love telling this story, because when I reflect on it, what I feel most is how many people I had in my corner. That's the memory I'll keep.”
ABOUT LEAH Leah Holt is completing a Master of Public Health through the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University and will graduate in the fall of 2026. She graduated with honours from the University of Central Missouri (UCM) with a Bachelor of Science in Health Studies and a minor in Nutrition. During her time at UCM, Leah served on various executive boards, including the Health Studies Student Leadership Committee. She was also selected for the prestigious Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program, through which she selected research mentors and completed her first independent research project, focusing on understanding the lived experiences of teen mothers. Leah is passionate about minimising barriers to health and improving health for all. Jackie Jackson from Rotary Club of Central Missouri, District 6080, serves as her sponsor counsellor, and the Rotary Club of District 6330 Passport is her host club.
NOTE — This reflection is based on a recorded conversation between Leah Holt and Rotarian Kitty Bucsko in August 2026, shared largely in her own words and gently shaped for clarity and continuity.
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