Community Post

Garfield High School alumnus Sean Mills earns Fulbright Scholarship

This post was submitted by Joe Lang of Pacific University.

FOREST GROVE, Ore. — Sean Mills, a senior double majoring in political science and economics at Pacific University, has earned a Fulbright scholarship to study and teach in India.

An 2007 alumnus of Garfield High School, Mills will depart later this year to teach the English language to children in the city of Delhi. He will graduate from Pacific on Saturday, May 19.

To effectively teach English, Mills will learn the Hindi language as part of his experience.

“Learning Hindi will be an amazing experience,” he said. “I love teaching and learning languages, and I look forward to applying it to my future studies.”

Mills is looking exploring an international relations program at Syracuse University as a potential succession to his Fulbright experience.

Mills recently completed his undergraduate research in economics with a senior thesis that explored successful school reform in Harlem, N.Y. 

He analyzed the effect early childhood education programs have had on statewide fourth-grade test scores for math and literacy. His research suggests that reallocating funds toward early childhood programs can result in long-term benefits for state-level educational attainment. 

Mills earned his degree in political science last year following the completion of a thesis that focused discourse in the United States related to sustainability. His findings suggest that mainstream media have constrained debate and subsequently limited exposure and understanding of options that can mitigate environmental issues.

Last summer, Mills interned for the U.S. Senate in Washington, D.C. During the current academic year, he has tutored children at the Forest Grove Community School.

In 2010, Mills helped lead Pacific’s men’s soccer team to the Northwest Conference championship and a berth in the NCAA Division III Championship tournament.

He is the most recent in a Pacific student to earn a Fulbright, and follows fellow Washingtonian Sara Bells.

Comments are closed.