News Release: Joel Bolton ’21, ’23 Receives Prestigious Fulbright Award

Azusa Pacific University alumnus and Rancho Cucamonga resident Joel Bolton ’21, ’23 received a prestigious Fulbright award for the 2023-24 academic year.

In January 2024, Bolton will travel to Kenya to teach as an English teaching assistant. Bolton will be teaching high school students in the capital of Nairobi. He will develop a curriculum for a class to teach English as a second language. Bolton plans to use his passion for stories throughout history and literature to aid his instruction.

“I wanted to expand my worldview and broaden my understanding of other cultures,” Bolton said. “I’m very excited to experience Kenya, learn from the students I’ll be working with, and to use the power of stories in my teaching.”

Bolton earned an MA and a BA in English from APU. After graduating, he served on mission trips in the Dominican Republic and Egypt. He is currently a substitute English teacher in the Etiwanda School District. He plans on seeking a cross-cultural career after returning from the Fulbright experience in Kenya.

Bolton is one out of approximately 2,000 U.S. students, out of hundreds of thousands of applicants, who will travel abroad this year through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. Fulbright participants are chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential. APU boasts 72 students and faculty who have received Fulbright awards since 2002.

Since its inception in 1946, under legislation by the late Senator J. William Fulbright, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 400,000 people with the opportunity to observe others’ political, economic, educational, and cultural institutions, to exchange ideas, and to embark on international ventures of importance. The program operates in more than 135 countries worldwide.