Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholars have influenced everything from refugee policies to the movies. Here are two who have made a difference.

Sadako Ogata, one of the first Ambassadorial Scholars from Japan, studied international relations at Georgetown University in 1951-52. She went on to be elected United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees by the UN General Assembly, a post she held for three terms, from 1991 to 2000. Ogata visited refugee camps in more than 40 countries, including Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Iraq. Since 2003, she has served as president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, a socioeconomic development assistance program that grants aid to developing countries.

Popular U.S. film critic and syndicated television personality Roger Ebert was an Ambassadorial Scholar in 1964-65, when he studied at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. In 1975, Ebert received a Pulitzer Prize for criticism. He's the author of more than 15 books, including the best-selling Ebert's Bigger Little Movie Glossary and I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie. He has also been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Learn more about Ambassadorial Scholarships, and help ensure the program's future by contributing to The Rotary Foundation.