Kelsie Miller, a senior in kinesiology and health, will be teaching English in Indonesia after being awarded a Fulbright grant in teaching assistantship.

According to the Fulbright website, “the Fulbright U.S. Student Program is the largest U.S. exchange program offering opportunities for students and young professionals to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching and primary and secondary school teaching worldwide. The program currently awards approximately 1,800 grants annually in all fields of study, and operates in more than 155 countries worldwide.”

Miller’s decision to apply for the scholarship came last summer.

“Since I am a pre-physical therapy option, this summer was the time to start applying for grad school,” Miller said. “Instead of applying to grad school I decided to do something else. I had been abroad before so I know that I kind of wanted to go abroad again and do something like that.”

Miller went to the Study Abroad Center, where she works, and looked at the many options for post-grad opportunities. She then decided that applying for a Fulbright grant was the right decision for her.

“The process is rigorous and requires students to complete an application which can be quite difficult,” said Trevor Nelson, director of the Study Abroad Center and chairman of the Fulbright Committee. “Students will also be interviewed by an on-campus screening committee. However, students do get considerable assistance from the Study Abroad Center and this can really help them through the process.”

After a long process of interviews and applications Miller was chosen to go to Indonesia, which is the location she wanted. Miller was the only student at Iowa State to be awarded the grant.

“Indonesia was just somewhere I had never been and somewhere where I didn’t know anything about. It’s a very diverse country,” Miller said. “I just thought I could learn about the different types of cultures and the language — again, just something completely different.”

Miller just found out that she will be placed at a school in the Gorontalo province on the Island of Sulawesi. She will be teaching conversational English to high school students.

“My primary responsibility while I’m over there is to at least spend 20 hours a week in the classroom as an English teaching assistant,” Miller said. “Then I should have my own project in the community; they really promote community involvement, so I’m hoping to do physical activity.”

While Miller will have a lot of responsibilities, she feels that this will be a valuable learning experience.

“I just enjoy meeting new people and experiencing a new culture,” Miller said. “I’m excited to see how much I will learn from them. I know my job is to teach them English but I’m just excited to see what they have to offer me. I feel like I’m going to learn and grow just as much as they are.”

Miller looks forward to seeing the country and learning about Indonesian culture and religion. Most of the country practices Islam. During her last semester, Miller is taking a linguistics course which she thinks will prove useful in learning the language.

After her time in Indonesia, Miller wants to go grad school to study physical therapy. She encourages anyone who is interested in going abroad after graduation to apply for the Fulbright scholarship.

“I would definitely recommend this or a similar opportunity,” Miller said. “Don’t be afraid to try something different or have an experience abroad, whether it’s teaching abroad or a doing service learning project. Peruse those alternate activities because you will learn a lot. As far as personality goes, you are going to have to be resourceful and very open-minded. I’m not even guaranteed a western toilet.”