RI students can apply for grants for travel and adventure

College students with a yen for adventure have until Jan. 12 to apply for fellowships through the Michael P.Metcalf Memorial Fund at the Rhode Island Foundation.

The Foundation will give Rhode Island residents up to $7,000 to pursue self-designed enrichment projects that include travel. Over the years, the fund has awarded fellowships to more than 100 students to visit sites ranging from Appalachia to Zaire. Past recipients have performed at a classical music festival in Rome, done a medical internship in Tanzania and volunteered at a Costa Rican orphanage.

Rhode Island College nursing major Jena Lerch joined an International Service Learning health-care team in Belize last summer. All of her expenses, including airfare, were paid for thanks to a Metcalf Fellowship.

She worked with five American nursing students and two veteran RNs to provide health services to more than 100 impoverished villagers. Lerch and her colleagues set up their first clinic in a village church. She interviewed patients and conducted physical exams.

The Fund's goal is to broaden student perspectives and enhance personal growth. Permitted uses include travel in this country and abroad as well as participation in internship and public service programs. Grants cannot be used for standard semester-abroad programs or for post-graduate travel.

Applicants can attend out-of-state colleges and universities, but must be legal residents of Rhode Island. Grants are not intended for purchase of equipment or other capital expenses. Applications must include a thorough description of the proposed activities, demonstrate clear purpose and show financial need.

Criteria for evaluating applications include clarity and thoughtfulness, creativity, motivation, evidence of self-direction and initiative and financial need. At the conclusion of their project, recipients must submit a final report describing the value of their experience in furthering their long-term goals.

The Metcalf Fund was established in 1989 to honor the late publisher of the Providence Journal. When she helped establish the Fund, Metcalf's widow Charlotte explained, "I wanted to create an opportunity that was a departure from the usual scholarship. I thought of making wonderful experiences – transforming experiences – happen for others."

The Christine T. Grinavic Adventurer's Fund supplements the Metcalf awards. The fund honors the memory of Grinavic, a University of Rhode Island graduate and 2001 Metcalf Fellowship winner who was lost at sea in 2007.

The Rhode Island Foundation is the largest and most comprehensive funder of nonprofit organizations in Rhode Island. Through leadership, fundraising and grantmaking activities, often in partnership with individuals and organizations, the Foundation is helping Rhode Island reach its true potential.