{"id":6426,"date":"2018-04-13T09:36:35","date_gmt":"2018-04-13T13:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/?p=6426"},"modified":"2018-06-15T08:59:27","modified_gmt":"2018-06-15T12:59:27","slug":"forward-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2018\/04\/13\/forward-together\/","title":{"rendered":"Forward Together"},"content":{"rendered":"

SGA presidents share surprising connections.
\n<\/em><\/h2>\n

\"DylanFrom left to right, Dylan John and Nipuna Ambanpola hail from rival high schools in Sri Lanka.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s rare <\/strong>that two students from rival high schools in Sri Lanka would earn the same scholarships to study in the southeastern United States; rarer still they both end up presidents of Student Government Associations (SGA) at nearby universities, and even more incredible that those two universities would become one University.<\/p>\n

Both leaders in their respective high schools, Georgia Southern students Dylan John and Nipuna Ambanpola came to America to pursue an education through the Georgia Rotary Student Program (GRSP). The GRSP provides international students the opportunity to spend one year at a university in Georgia while living with a host family. John arrived on the scholarship in 2011, and Ambanpola followed suit in 2015 after meeting with John to learn more about the program.<\/p>\n

John began school at Georgia Southern and Ambanpola at Armstrong State University. The pride these two men felt for their universities was unparalleled, and allowed their friendly rivalry to continue in the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe story about Nipuna and me ascending to SGA Presidents is the ultimate story of connecting to campus.\u201d<\/strong><\/em>
\n\u2014Dylan John<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

John found success early on in his academic career, quickly adapting to his course load and leadership positions in SGA, mock mediation and the Model African Union. He became SGA president of Georgia Southern University in fall 2016 and led the Vision 20\/20 Initiative, bringing Georgia Southern to the forefront of leadership conversations across the state. For his many leadership and academic efforts, John received the William A. Watt Memorial Award in 2011, an honor which recognizes the top GRSP Scholar of the Year.<\/p>\n

Ambanpola too, adapted well to life in Georgia. He founded a nonprofit, IVolunteer International, which connects volunteers with service opportunities around the world, and discussed the organization\u2019s opportunity at TEDxSavannah. Ambanpola was awarded the Barbara M. and Donald L. Thomas Memorial Peace Award from the Rotary Club of Roswell, Georgia, in 2015, just months after arriving in the U.S. It wasn\u2019t long before he called home and told his parents he planned to finish his education in Georgia.<\/p>\n

\"Dylan
\n\u201cI\u2019ve fallen in love with Savannah,\u201d he said. \u201cThe culture of acceptance and hospitality here is so wonderful. It reminds me of Sri Lanka. The natural beauty, the opportunities, the people. It\u2019s all so great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like John, Ambanpola quickly became involved with SGA when he arrived at Armstrong. John appreciated his friend\u2019s ambition and wanted to collaborate, so much so that he desperately tried to convince Ambanpola to transfer to Georgia Southern in the fall of 2016. Despite John\u2019s best attempts at persuasion, Ambanpola couldn\u2019t bring himself to leave the life he\u2019d built on the Armstrong Campus.<\/p>\n

One night, just a few months after his appeal to Ambanpola to come to Georgia Southern, John received a call.<\/p>\n

\u201cDylan, I\u2019ve changed my mind, and I\u2019m coming to Georgia Southern,\u201d said Ambanpola. \u201cBut I\u2019m not coming alone. I\u2019m bringing the entire University with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

John got a great laugh from Ambanpola\u2019s call, and though both still had great pride in their universities, they were thrilled about the prospect of working together to represent a new institution.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe realize the opportunities this consolidation has afforded everyone,\u201d said Ambanpola. \u201cWe\u2019re combining the strengths of three campuses. There will never be again such an opportunity to go back to the roots of both universities and focus on bringing these amazing strengths together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now the two SGA presidents are putting their leadership skills, influence and passion together to create a legacy for the new institution.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the story about Nipuna and me ascending to SGA Presidents is the ultimate story of connecting to campus,\u201d said John. \u201cYou don\u2019t feel like you\u2019re just another number, another person on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Ambanpola and John plan to use their stories to encourage other international students to take advantage of the opportunities at Georgia Southern.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try to go back once a year,\u201d said Ambanpola. \u201cWe want to let students know studying abroad is possible. There is a misconception in Sri Lanka that it\u2019s difficult for international students to get scholarships in the United States; that it\u2019s expensive, hard to move away from home and difficult to adapt. We want to break that barrier.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the two have worked hard to come together and bring unity between two student bodies, going home always brings out the old friendly competition that drove them in high school.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur hometown friends can\u2019t believe this \u2018Thomian\u2019 hangs out with a \u2018Royalist,\u2019 [John and Ambanpola\u2019s rival high schools],\u201d said John. \u201cHere in Georgia, it\u2019s great to have a hometown friend nearby, but when we go back to Sri Lanka together, we have a lot of explaining to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Aubrey Trevathan Hall<\/em><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SGA presidents share surprising connections. From left to right, Dylan John and Nipuna Ambanpola hail from rival high schools in Sri Lanka. It\u2019s rare that two students from rival high schools in Sri Lanka would earn the same scholarships to study in the southeastern United States; rarer still they both end up presidents of Student […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":6429,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,10],"tags":[56],"class_list":["post-6426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","tag-spring-2018"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}