Athens High School alumna Kristin Krzic received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program grant to South Korea for an English Teaching Assistantship in South Korea.
Athens native Kristin Krzic will pursue her dreams this summer when she packs her bags and heads to South Korea.
Krzic, born and raised in Athens, recently received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program grant to South Korea for an English Teaching Assistantship.
The Fulbright Program is run by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and provides grants for study and research projects as well as English Teaching Assistant programs, according to its website.
“This has been my dream for a long time, so I’m so happy it came true,” Krzic said.
Krzic will travel to South Korea in the beginning of July and stay there with the program for at least a year, she said.
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“With the Fulbright program I thought it would be perfect because it would give me that experience of being in a classroom and working with international students,” Krzic said. “In the future I hope to have a career in either teaching English as a second language or being an elementary school teacher. So I’m hoping that through the Fulbright Program it will help me with getting experience learning more how teaching works, especially with international students.”
Through the program, Krzic is hoping to learn more about South Korea and the education system there.
“I have a strong interest in doing research on education,” Krzic said. “So I would like to compare both education systems and see how they are similar and different.”
Krzic graduated from Athens High School in 2008 and took classes at OU during her time there. Both of her parents work at Ohio University and her father, Dr. Gerard Krzic, is the director of the Ohio Program of Intensive English.
“When I was little I would go with him all the time to the events that they held for international students,” Krzic said. “I just grew up with an international background in a way so that’s when I started to interested in education and work with international students.”
Her mother, Joung Hee Krzic, is a linguistic instructor at OU.
She graduated from The Ohio State University in 2013 with a double major in international relations and Korean along with a minor in education.
“I found out (about the Fulbright) on April Fool’s Day,” Krzic said. “I thought if it was a joke, it would be a pretty mean joke. I was on the phone with my parents when I found out and I started crying and just started shaking and screaming and it was just mixed emotions.”
Krzic, who is half-Korean herself, has had a strong interest in Korean culture since she was young. However, she was unable to go to Korea often because it is far away and expensive to visit, she said.
The Fulbright grant covers the round trip ticket to Korea and most expenses, Krzic said. She will also be paid through her assistant teaching job.
The application process for a Fulbright grant includes two essays: a personal essay and a statement of purpose with the reason why an applicant would like the grant.
“Once you submit those, you have to wait and hear back from the Institute of International Education and then you find out if you passed the first round. The second round is where they send it in Korea and Korea looks at it, and if you passed that round then you are offered a grant,” Krzic said.
The program will begin with orientation, which will last until August. At the end of orientation, Krzic will find out her which school she will be placed at.
“Preferably I would love to be in a rural setting just because I feel that I can learn a lot about Korea by being in the countryside,” Krzic said.
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At the end of her first year in the program, she can choose to extend her stay by an extra two years.
Krzic recommends people who are interested in international education or international relations apply to the Fulbright program.
“Really just embrace all the international opportunities that Athens has to offer because that’s how I got started in this track, and that’s why I applied for the Fulbright program,” Krzic said. “I couldn’t imagine a better hometown to grow up in because of everything that Athens has.
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