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Three students receive Fulbright grant

Allison Gnaegy, For The Miami Student

Three Miami University students have been chosen to receive 2013-2014 Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) grants to help teach English in foreign countries.

The grantees are seniors Brian Cash, an architecture major and German minor, Jacob Hofstetter, a history major and Spanish minor and Ryan Martini, an integrated mathematics education major and American literature minor.

Cash said he found out about the opportunity while studying abroad in Germany and will be returning to Germany as an ETA.

According to Cash, the application for the ETA grant consists of a grant purpose statement in which applicants describe why they would be effective teachers who can promote cross-cultural understanding, as well as a personal statement, three letters of recommendation, a copy of their transcript and a foreign language evaluation if needed.

The final step of the application, Cash said, is the on-campus interview in September, approximately one year before the grant period starts.

"Since Germany recommended that I speak German, I not only had my German evaluated, but also had a bit of my on-campus interview in German," Cash said.

According to Cash, Fulbright ETAs serve as native language "experts" in English classrooms, bringing English language mastery and a knowledge of American culture to the students. He said ETAs are also expected to participate in an out-of-class project that promotes cross-cultural understanding.

Cash said he served at the Center on Halstead, Chicago's GLBTQ center, in 2011, and would like to work with the GLBTQ community in Germany for his out-of-class project.

"I'd like to see how the GLBTQ community is both similar and different in Germany," Cash said.

Cash said his ETA orientation will be in a city outside of Cologne, Germany, September 2. Hofstetter will be teaching in Spain and Martini will be teaching in Indonesia.

For information on how to apply for a Fulbright grant, students can visit their website at www.fulbrightonline.org. Cash also recommended a link to Fulbright's application tips: http://us.fulbrightonline.org/application-tips/eta

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