Akos Furton is a UT sophomore studying business honors and mathematics and the recipient of the Ray and Denise Nixon Forty Acres Scholarship. Furton was a featured speaker at this year’s Forty Acres Scholarship Program Dinner, which was held last week at the Etter-Harbin Alumni Center. The following is a transcript of his remarks.

As the summer after my freshman year approached, I kept wondering how I would spend it. Should I work as I did after high school? Should I seek an internship?

During one of the lectures in my business administration 101 class, guest speaker and supply chain professor Dr. Hasler mentioned that he would be leading a trip to Hong Kong to study the global supply chain, particularly how Chinese manufacturing fits into it. I had always wanted to visit Asia, and global logistics seemed interesting since I enjoyed the UPS “What can Brown do for you?” commercials. The entire Texas Exes staff was so supportive throughout the process of me applying and preparing for the program.

The program was an intensive six-week trip across the supply chain of a series of Target products. I was with about 30 other students from the McCombs School of Business. On our first day, just after school ended and I had moved out of my dorm (and crashed my car into a garbage truck), we had a session at a local Target store to determine the specific product we would follow in China. After selecting a calculator, we followed it to the port of Los Angeles, then back across the Pacific Ocean to a port on the Chinese seaboard, then finally to a factory where hundreds of workers in an assembly line assembled TI-84 calculators by the truckload day after day after day.

In addition, I took two classes while in Hong Kong, one a course on relationships with Chinese businesses, and the other an introduction to operations. The classes convinced me that I should declare a major in supply-chain management.

While in Asia, because of the Forty Acres Scholars Program's generous funding, I was also able to travel to Thailand, where I got my picture taken with a tiger; Beijing, where I got to hike the Great Wall; India, where I got to sample homemade Indian cuisine; and finally Hungary, where I met up with my parents at my grandparents' house. All in all, I had collected the full set of currencies from six different countries.

I found studying abroad to be the most exhilarating two months of my life. I experienced foreign situations daily, and learned to adapt to mystifying, bizarre environments. I even picked up a few characters of Chinese. I am incredibly grateful to the Forty Acres Scholars Program for giving me the opportunity to experience the second best city in the world (after Austin of course). You have provided me the opportunity to immerse myself in a culture unknown to me, and allowed me to grow from it. For that, I am so thankful! Thank you for your generous investments into our futures! Hook 'em.  

Photo by Matt Valentine.