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Senior Awarded Fulbright Fellowship

Senior Awarded Fulbright Fellowship

Chris Goldsby was awarded a highly competitive Fulbright fellowship.

Chris Goldsby, a Bethel University senior majoring in business and Spanish, has been awarded a Fulbright fellowship for the 2012-13 academic year. The award, called the Garcia Robles Binational Business Fulbright Grant, will allow Goldsby to study at the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM) in Mexico City or the Instituto Tecnologico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITEM) in Monterrey, both top universities in Mexico. Goldsby will also work fulltime in a business internship with a multinational corporation or nonprofit, with a goal of finding creative economic development solutions in areas such as poverty alleviation, child malnutrition, sanitation, and domestic violence.

Goldsby completed a rigorous application process to receive the highly competitive and prestigious grant. He worked on Spanish language fluency, honed his application essay, and practiced with a Bethel career counselor for a Skype interview, in Spanish, with an eight-member panel including four government officials. “Many people were instrumental in helping me achieve this award,” he says. “For example, through career services I was able to connect with a Bethel graduate who received a Fulbright scholarship to Slovakia. It was great to have reassurance from her that I could do well in the interview.”

While Goldsby’s Fulbright program begins in late August, he will be busy this summer with an internship in human resources at Cargill’s Friona, Texas, location. “I am tremendously excited for what God has for me in the months to come,” he says, “and I am thankful for the staff and faculty here at Bethel.”

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program, the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program, is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The program’s participants are chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential, and receive the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. Approximately 1,600 U.S. students receive Fulbright awards each year. Two other Bethel students have been awarded Fulbright fellowships: Charity Kroeker ’08, Poland, 2008-09; and Anna Wilson ’10, Slovakia, 2010-11.