John Akin, a Sandy Creek graduate and fourth year Economics and Internatonal Affairs Major at Georgia Tech with a minor in Law, Science and Technology, is a recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to “increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Approximately 294,000 “Fulbrighters,” 111,000 from the United States and 183,000 from other countries, have participated in the Program since its inception more than sixty years ago. The Fulbright Program awards approximately 7,500 new grants annually.

Akin, scheduled to graduate summa cum laude this May, will use his grant for an ETA (English Teaching Assistantship), where he’ll be partnered with a high school in Indonesia to teach English to local students in rural areas. The project runs for nine months, and begins on August 30, 2009. After his time in Indonesia, Akin plans to attend law school at the Virginia School of Law.

“I’m looking forward to this incredible opportunity to learn a new culture, and I hope that I can have a positive impact on the school I get to work with,” said Akin. “I feel very grateful for being able to take part in such a wonderful program.”

Akin is currently the President of Omicron Delta Epsilon Economics Honor Society and is the most recent Treasurer of the Ivan Allen College Student Advisory Board. He participates in Student Government as a Justice on the Undergraduate Judiciary Cabinet and was previously the Economics Representative in the Undergraduate House of Representatives. He has been a Lead Tutor at the Georgia Tech Athletic Association (GTAA) for two years, and is a brother of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. Before Tech, he was an Eagle Scout with Troop 181.

As a research assistant to Dr. Amy D’Unger, Akin is having a paper he wrote as part of that project published in an upcoming issue of “The Tower.” He has also received a President’s Undergraduate Research Award for this semester, for an unrelated project on the Presidency and judicial reform that he did as a Fellow with the Center for the Study of the Presidency in Washington, D.C. this year.

Akin is the son of Robert and Leslie Akin of Fayette County.

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