A student of Manx descent is believed to be the first offspring of an Ella Olesen scholar to graduate from the University of Idaho.
 
Andrew Baldridge joins mum Deb in the Idaho alumni after gaining his degree in political science and history this summer.
 
Deb, nee Callin, who hails from Peel, was the Department of Education and Children’s Ella Olesen scholar in 1985. The scholarship is named after a former registrar of the university who died at the age of 90 that year.
 
Miss Olesen’s Manx ancestry – her mother Margaret Teare was born in Ballaugh and emigrated to America in 1890 – led her to gift the scholarship fund in 1971. It is awarded annually to a female degree student who has been supported through her studies by the DEC.
 
Deb met her future husband Scott, an Idaho native, during her year studying in America. At the end of the year she returned to England and worked as a management trainee.
 
Deb and Scott married in England in January 1987 but returned to live in Idaho soon afterwards and have remained there ever since. They have two children. Daughter Kate is in her final year at medical school.
 
Deb now works at an outpatient clinic in a rehabilitation hospital. Her family lives 100 miles from the university campus in Moscow.
 
She said Andrew has his heart set on becoming a water rights lawyer. ‘In order to attend law school here, you first have to complete a bachelors degree and then take an entrance exam which, if you score high enough, is then followed by a rigorous and competitive selection process. Andrew will spend the summer studying for that entrance exam,’ she said. 
 
Deb – who hopes to visit the Island next year with her family – added: ‘I feel honored to have had the opportunity to come to Idaho and become a part of it and for Andrew to continue on the Ella Olesen legacy.
 
‘The scholarship is a life-changing opportunity for all those who are fortunate enough to win it. May it endure for years to come and continue the invaluable bond between Idaho and the Isle of Man.’
 
Lorrae Fox, from Port Erin, who is working towards a BA in English language and linguistics at Lancaster University, will set off for Idaho in August as the 2014/15 Ella Olesen scholar. The 2015/16 scholar will be selected in December.
 
Photo - Andrew Baldridge with current Ella Olesen scholars Jo Durber (left), from Peel, and Siobhan Walshe (second right), from Onchan, and Katie Taylor, from Ramsey, who was the Ella Olesen scholar in 2010 and returned to the University of Idaho in 2012 to study for a PhD.