When 24 future leaders of Madagascar cross the commencement stage Saturday at Abilene Christian University, they will be greeted by their nation's president. President Marc Ravalomanana has high expectations for these students he handpicked four years ago to help transform his island nation of 17 million.
"It is intimidating, but I am glad the President of Madagascar is able to attend," said Laza Razafimanjato, who is graduating with a pre-architecture and interior design degree. "It is a great honor to have the President here."
You might say Ravalomanana is checking on the results of his investment. The diploma that the students receive as they cross the stage was made possible through a unique scholarship program that Ravalomanana initiated to develop future leaders for his nation.
"The key to the development of Madagascar is having educated men and women with character and leadership," Ravalomanana said. "That is why I sent these students to ACU," which is a private Christian university in Texas with 4,700 students from 60 nations.
After their four years at ACU, the students tend to share their president's vision. Several plan to continue their education in graduate schools both here and abroad. Others are returning to Madagascar to begin applying their education immediately, said Dr John Tyson, ACU vice president for development.
Joelly Rasamoelina is graduating with a degree in sociology, and she plans to attend graduate school and become a development consultant in her home nation.
"I want to go home and be able to tell from my own experience what the country really needs, and I will focus my studies on that," she said. "At ACU I have witnessed students changing the world. I know the power that students hold in their hands, and I am hoping to raise awareness among college students in Madagascar, hoping to let them know they can develop the country, they can change the world."
The students have studied various majors in the arts, sciences and business, experienced American culture, worked at part-time jobs on campus and participated in service work and internships. Physics major Aldo Raeliarijaona, along with other ACU students, completed an internship at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Chicago. Rasamoelina spent a summer in Montana as a sociology intern on the Crow Indian Reservation.
"The Crow internship in Montana was a life-changing program," Rasamoelina said. "The experience actually helped me make sense of everything I learned during the past four years. It showed me a side of the United States that I would not have seen otherwise, and I think my time in the U.S. would not have been complete without that learning experience on the Crow Reservation."
The ACU scholarship program for Malagasy students was formalized in April 2004 when Tyson met with Ravalomanana while on a business council trade mission in Madagascar.
Scholarship recipients were selected from 15 regions of the country, and all six provinces were represented. The students began at ACU in 2004, and the government of Madagascar paid their tuition for four years. To earn the prestigious scholarship, students not only had to be selected by the president's application process, but also had to meet the university's academic and language qualifications.
When they return home, the students' experience will come full circle from their send-off ceremony four years ago, as they participate in a Malagasy re-creation of the commencement ceremony, allowing their families to join in the celebration.
"Words can't say how happy they are," said environmental science major Hasina Randrianjafy, of her family members. "They have been waiting for this moment forever."
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