Austin Perrotti, who completed the Post Baccalaureate Teaching Certification program at Texas Wesleyan, will be spending one year in England, focusing on the global refugee crisis.

Perrotti was awarded a Rotary Global Grant by Rotary International to support his work with Rotary clubs in the United Kingdom. The merit-based award will cover his tuition, housing and living expenses while working in England and pursuing his Master’s of Research in Philosophy at the University of Reading.

While there, he will explore the needs of incoming refugees and migrants in England, along with the needs of the communities those refugees are now calling home.

“While there are many wonderful things that I could say about Austin, the one that stands out to me most is his desire for his students to have experiences that give them the opportunity to learn how to be engaged future leaders,” Elizabeth Ward, Ph.D., associate professor of education and Austin’s teacher during his certification coursework, said.

Perrotti, a member of Texas Wesleyan’s second Teach for America cohort, teaches fourth grade at Uplift Mighty Preparatory in Fort Worth.

“Receiving the Rotary Global Grant means that my humanitarian focus of assisting the UK in the looming refugee crisis may come to fruition,” Perrotti said. “It allows me to put more of my time and energy into assisting our allies across the ocean and not have to worry about the logistics of money while I pursue a master's degree.”

Perrotti says his time at TXWES showed him the power education can have inside and outside the classroom.

“Texas Wesleyan, and especially Dr. Ward and Dr. [Jacqueline] Gaffner, helped me to see how education can be used to dispel stereotypes and be used as a both a tool and weapon in equipping myself and others for the future global problems that await us.”