A senior cadet at the U.S. Air Force Academy recently received a fully-funded scholarship to study abroad, according to a news release from the academy.

Cadet 1st Class Kyrolos Georgey has been selected for the coveted Marshall Scholarship, an endowment created by the United Kingdom in 1953 to allow America’s brightest scholars to pursue postgraduate education virtually anywhere in the U.K. Georgey is the academy’s 23rd Marshall Scholar, according to the release.

Named for the Marshall Plan — Secretary of State George Marshall’s post-World War II European recovery initiative — the scholarship was created to help bolster U.S.-U.K. relations in perpetuity.

Brig. Gen. Linell Letendre, the academy’s dean of faculty, said Georgey will be an exemplary representative of the academy, and of the U.S.

“Kyrolos Georgey is an absolutely extraordinary cadet and I have no doubt that he will be a tremendous ambassador for our institution as a Marshall Scholar,” Letendre said. “His successes at the Academy and ultimately this award are a testament not only to his ability and character, but also reflect great honor upon the many members of USAFA’s faculty and staff who have invested in him, provided mentorship, and cheered him on from success to success.”

Col. Miriam Krieger, a political science professor, has never had Georgey in her class, but said her interactions with him left her amazed at his intellect, determination, and what she called “the most extraordinary background I have seen in five years of teaching at the Air Force Academy.”

Inspired by the pro-democracy Arab Spring protests, Georgey came to the U.S. from Egypt in 2015. He taught himself English by immersing himself in American history and literature. Later, as the only fluent English speaker in his family, he took it upon himself to support the household by working.

While attending school full time, Georgey, then 13, worked at a hair salon. He started out sweeping floors and doing inventory, but he gradually learned nearly every facet of the business, eventually doing the shop’s bookkeeping and accounting – and even learning to style hair.

“He isn’t boxed in by stereotypes,” Krieger wrote in her recommendation letter for the scholarship. “He recognizes that (his hair salon) experience isn’t the typical warrior image the Academy touts and yet is comfortable in his own skin.”

Col. Douglas Wickert, who heads the Academy’s aeronautics department, said he has been impressed by Georgey’s insatiable thirst for knowledge. When he arrived at the Academy, he spoke Spanish and Arabic, and could have easily satisfied the school’s foreign language requirement in either of those languages, Wickert said.

“But what does he do? He minors in Russian,” Wickert said. “He wanted to pick up a fourth language.”

Many Academy students have robust academic and personal backgrounds, but Georgey, who is currently doing hypersonics research in Southeast Asia, stands out even among the standouts, officials said.

“He has excelled at everything he’s touched,” said Academy spokesman Dean Miller. “A truly remarkable young man.”

“I have had the privilege of mentoring numerous Rhodes and Marshall Scholars and candidates from the United States Air Force Academy, each extraordinary in their own right,” Krieger wrote. “Among all of them, I have been uniquely impressed by Kyrolos’ articulate insight and wisdom, traits that clearly come from living a life of challenge and being both deeply and widely read.”

Georgey said he owes his most recent accomplishment to his Academy professors and mentors.

“The Academy has provided me with the opportunity to become a member of the international community working to enhance the social fabric between democracies as a future military officer,” he said. “As a public servant and a future custodian of the nation’s military arsenal, I will concentrate my efforts to ensure the perpetuation of our democratic institutions.”

The first member of his family to learn English and attend college, Georgey will also be first to join the military when he graduates next year. He will begin training as an Air Force pilot once he has completed his postgraduate studies.

“I am motivated to serve the American people, because the American people first served me,” he said. “I only hope to give back a fraction of what they have given me.”