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MC’s latest Fulbright will teach
English in South Korea
 A
first-generation world traveler passionate about language and gardening
will spend a year in South Korea as he continues Manchester College’s
leadership in producing Fulbrights.
Graduating senior Forest I. Etsler, raised in Muncie, Ind., will
embark in July on a 10-month adventure in South Korea, where he will
teach English as a Foreign Language and compare the cultural dialogue
between the natural and spiritual worlds in Korea with that of America.
“I am fascinated by Korea’s rich Buddhist history, natural beauty, and
traditional gardening methods,” says the honors student and MC grounds
worker.
In receiving the teaching assistantship, Etsler becomes Manchester
College’s 18th student to receive a Fulbright grant within
10 years, and the fourth to receive a grant to South Korea. The
Church of the Brethren college continues to produce more Fulbright
per capita enrollment than any other college or university in
Indiana. The Fulbright is the U.S.
government's flagship program in international educational exchange,
with Congress annually funding student
grants
for
career-launching study and research abroad.
About 1,000 student grants were awarded this year.
Etsler, a
graduate of Burris Laboratory School at Ball State University, is the
first in his family to travel outside the United States. On an
Imagination Grant from the Kemper Fellowship program in summer 2003, he
backpacked “literary” England and he studied at the Universitat de
Barcelona in spring 2004 with Brethren Colleges Abroad.
At
Manchester College, he has studied English and American language and
literature, tutored his peers in writing and volunteered with the
Indiana Reading Corps in area elementary schools. The Honors Program
student is proficient in Spanish. He played Spartan baseball 2001-2003
and works on the campus grounds crew.
Etsler
has embraced the Manchester College community. “I have been encouraged
to question who I am and discover who I will be” at Manchester College,
he told the Fulbright committee. “Opportunities to study abroad, pursue
independent research, and travel at home and abroad have enriched my
education, my sense of self, and my view of the world.”
Upon his
return from South Korea next May, Etsler plans to pursue his doctorate
in American literature, and teach the subject.
For more
about Manchester College, visit
www.manchester.edu. For more about the Fulbright program,
visit http://www.iie.org |
