2007.04.05: April 5, 2007: Headlines: COS - Indonesia: COS - Ecuador: Awards: Fulbright: Daily O'Collegian: Ecuador RPCV Matthew Smith earns Fulbright, will go to Indonesia
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2007.04.05: April 5, 2007: Headlines: COS - Indonesia: COS - Ecuador: Awards: Fulbright: Daily O'Collegian: Ecuador RPCV Matthew Smith earns Fulbright, will go to Indonesia
Ecuador RPCV Matthew Smith earns Fulbright, will go to Indonesia
Smith, also the campus representative for the Peace Corps, spent two years in Ecuador with the Corps and said he thinks the experience might have helped him receive the award. “In my application, I expressed that after being a Peace Corps volunteer, I can comfortably and confidently integrate into a different culture, work successfully and be active in the host community,” he said. The award Smith received is an English Teaching Assistant scholarship and will allow him to go to Indonesia in July to teach English. However, Smith said besides teaching English, he will also have to represent the U.S. “My primary work assignment is to teach English; however, I will also serve as a representative of the United States and be an active member of my host community, which will help to foster cross-cultural understanding,” he said. Smith said his desire to go to Indonesia was sparked during his freshman year at Murray State College when he had a professor who was a Fulbright Scholar from Indonesia.
Ecuador RPCV Matthew Smith earns Fulbright, will go to Indonesia
Student earns Fulbright
Allison McCartney
Caption: Fulbright center in Nicosia Photo: danceinthesky Flickr Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0
An OSU graduate student became the university’s third Fulbright grantee since 1997.
Matthew Smith, who will receive his master’s in international studies in May, said he applied in September and found out in mid-March that he’d been accepted.
The Fulbright Program was established shortly after WWII as an initiative to promote mutual understanding between the United States and other countries around the world, according to the International Education and Outreach Web site.
The program sends more than 800 U.S. faculty and professionals overseas each year. There are more than 3,000 non U.S. nationals in the U.S. on a Fulbright Grant.
Individual grants are available to people from more than 130 countries.
OSU’s Fulbright adviser Steve Hallgren, said Smith’s reception of the award shows his accomplishments.
“A Fulbright award for an OSU student recognizes the achievements of the student,” he said.
Hallgren also said OSU has been rather poorly represented by student awardees and they [faculty and administration] are going to start focusing on getting more Fulbright recipients from OSU.
“We have many students at OSU capable of getting a Fulbright, but we have only had a handful of students receive one,” he said. “The faculty and administration are trying to encourage more students to apply for these awards.”
Gerry Auel, study abroad coordinator, said the award is an honor for Smith, especially because OSU hasn’t had many Fulbright recipients.
Smith, also the campus representative for the Peace Corps, spent two years in Ecuador with the Corps and said he thinks the experience might have helped him receive the award.
“In my application, I expressed that after being a Peace Corps volunteer, I can comfortably and confidently integrate into a different culture, work successfully and be active in the host community,” he said.
The award Smith received is an English Teaching Assistant scholarship and will allow him to go to Indonesia in July to teach English.
However, Smith said besides teaching English, he will also have to represent the U.S.
“My primary work assignment is to teach English; however, I will also serve as a representative of the United States and be an active member of my host community, which will help to foster cross-cultural understanding,” he said.
Smith said his desire to go to Indonesia was sparked during his freshman year at Murray State College when he had a professor who was a Fulbright Scholar from Indonesia.
“She cemented my desire to go out and experience more and after listening to her stories, I have wanted to experience Indonesia,” he said.
“I knew that the Fulbright Scholarship would allow me to do this.”
Smith will be in Indonesia for about a year, and the Fulbright will cover all travel and medical expenses and will provide a monthly living stipend.
Smith said he encourages students to apply for this scholarship, but that they must be serious about it.
“Be sincerely interested in what you are applying to do and be able to precisely articulate that interest,” he said. “You need to know what you want to do, why you want to do it, how you are qualified to do it and how it is going to help you serve the greater good now and throughout your life.”
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Headlines: April, 2007; Peace Corps Indonesia; Directory of Indonesia RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Indonesia RPCVs; Peace Corps Ecuador; Directory of Ecuador RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Ecuador RPCVs; Awards; Fulbright; Oklahoma
When this story was posted in April 2007, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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Story Source: Daily O'Collegian
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Indonesia; COS - Ecuador; Awards; Fulbright
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