September Hinkle heard about a scholarship at the beginning of the fall semester, got online, filled out a scholarship application, hit send and then forgot about it. A few months later, around finals time, she opened up her email and found out she had received the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, which would provide funds for her to study abroad. She chose Japan.

"You have to apply before the semester you are leaving [to study abroad]," Hinkle said. "I was so involved in everything I was doing I actually forgot about it. Then I received the email about it, and I was surprised."

"It was a very pleasant surprise after all the tests and studying," Hinkle said.

Hinkle is a senior studying secondary English education at Southeast Missouri State University with plans to be a high school teacher. She already has received her associate of arts in teaching from Mineral Area College and is interested in getting her master's degree in the future.

She currently is student teaching at Central R-3 in Park Hills, Mo., and will spend the second half of her student teaching English in Tokyo, Japan, thanks to her scholarship.

The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship is a competitive national scholarship that gives students scholarships up to $5,000. Students who apply for and receive the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship must be a U.S. undergraduate student at a two or four year university, must be receiving a federal Pell Grant and must use the scholarship to study abroad. The scholarship is given out by the Institute of International Education. Students can apply online at iie.org/en/programs/Gilman-Scholarship-Program.

Hinkle received $3,000 and will use the scholarship to student-teach at Columbia International School in Tokyo from March 1 to May 24. She will teach English as a second language, and expects to work with ninth and 10th graders.

In her free time, she will see some of the sights in Japan, like the Imperial Palace and the Hanami celebration, which is a national flower viewing festival when the cherry blossoms are blooming.

Hinkle had to plan a service project to receive the scholarship. She decided to start an email pen pal system between 10 to 15 students in Missouri and students she selects in Japan after she returns.

"It would be cool to do a letter pen pal thing, but I think it would be a little more difficult than doing email," Hinkle said.

Hinkle wanted to teach abroad, wanted to visit Japan and expected to have to take out a large amount of student loans in order to go abroad this semester. Now that she has received the scholarship, she doesn't have to take out any.

"I'm very grateful for the scholarship. It was a very pleasant surprise, and I am glad to be a part of it," Hinkle said.

"It'll be a different experience actually getting to interact with people from Japan," Hinkle said.