Academy cadet awarded Marshall Scholarship

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U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AFNS) --  A senior cadet here has been named a 2010 Marshall Scholarship winner.

Cadet 1st Class Austin McKinney, from Canton, Mich., is the Air Force Academy's 11th Marshall Scholar.

Cadet McKinney plans to obtain two separate master's degrees at the University of London in England, one in Latin American studies and the other in globalization and Latin American development.

"It is an honor to be chosen for such an award," Cadet Mckinney said. "I will be proud to represent the U.S. Air Force in the United Kingdom for two years."

Ranked at the top of the 2010 class academically, Cadet McKinney is majoring in management with a minor in Spanish. He has participated in a language immersion program at Nerja, Spain, spent a semester abroad at Tecnológico de Monterrey, a university in Querétaro, Mexico, and more recently had a role in a Georgetown University political science and economics study program in Prague, Czech Republic.

While in Mexico, Cadet McKinney participated in more than 100 hours of community service teaching children mathematics and basic English. However, Cadet McKinney's generosity doesn't end there. He also has worked as a volunteer teacher in the local agriculture markets of Quito, Ecuador, and mentored a child in the Colorado Springs community while serving as a member of Big Brothers-Big Sisters.

"I grew up in a service-oriented family. My father was an Air Force officer and my mom was a teacher," Cadet McKinney said, adding that his parents "taught to always give back to others when possible."

Marshall Scholarships finance up to 40 young Americans of high ability to study for a degree at a school of their choosing in the United Kingdom each year, according to the Marshall Scholarship Web site.