Two seniors have found a unique solution to the ever-pressing question: “what’s next after graduation?” Leigh Senderowicz ’07 and Marlon Bishop ’07 were recently selected as winners of the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, and will each receive a $25,000 grant for a year of independent study and travel outside the United States.
“I see this as a sort of ‘carpe anum’ opportunity, if you will, knowing full well that this type of thing will not present itself in life very often,” Senderowicz said. “After this comes grad school and jobs, but right now I have the opportunity just to explore the world and learn for myself.”
For her project, “Taboo and Tolerance: Access to Reproductive Health in Cultural Context,” Senderowicz will travel to Peru, Senegal, South Africa and Turkey to research reproductive health care across different cultures. As president of the Wesleyan Clinic Escorts, Senderowicz has always had an interest in reproductive health care. She explained that her experience studying abroad in Cameroon changed her opinion on these issues and motivated her to pursue her project.
“In the United States, there is an abundance of pro-choice rhetoric about safety, but it was only in Cameroon that I was struck with the magnitude of unsafe reproductive health options as a women’s health and human rights issue,” she said. “Whether illegal or legal, taboo or accepted, women are making reproductive health choices all over the world. As such there are serious implications for women’s health.”
According to her project proposal, Senderowicz will be relying on these experiences, as well as her degrees in FGSS and Anthropology, to speak with doctors, nurses, midwives, traditional healthcare practitioners, administrators of NGOs, health clinics, and women themselves in order to discern the role of laws, religion, cultural mores, politics of development organizations and personal values in the reproductive choices that women make.
Each year, Wesleyan nominates four graduating seniors for the fellowship. These candidates are then placed into a national pool of 194 applicants from 48 schools, which is ultimately narrowed to 50 winners. Despite the competitive nature of this fellowship, Wesleyan students have received seven over the past five years.
Bishop, this year’s other winner, will be pursuing a study of world music in his project, “From Punta to Palos: Exploring the Hidden Afro-Latino Musics.” Traveling through the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Uruguay, Ecuador, and Brazil, Bishop plans to study with and record local musicians, as well as studying the history of music through interviews and working with community music organizations.
Bishop described how his goals are dependent upon interactions with musicians from these countries.
“The depth of understanding I am looking for can simply not be found in books or recordings,” he said. “However, the true challenge lies in synthesizing all the information I gain into a greater picture of how African music is interpreted, transformed, transmitted, and received when taken out of its original environs and placed in the Americas. I will approach this goal through careful analysis and direct, meaningful encounters with the people who make such music.”
Bishop has long had an interest in music, and has experience playing funk, jazz and hip-hop in particular. In addition to majoring in music, Bishop has researched and designed a radio program on the African roots of Dominican merengue for Afropop Worldwide, a radio station at which he worked.
Bishop added that his professional interest lies in film scoring and music production, not world music or academia.
“This is kind of exploration for it’s own sake,” he said. “It’s a unique opportunity for adventure.”
Dean Louise Brown, the University’s liaison for the fellowship, worked with the Watson Committee, made up of four faculty members and two class deans, to choose this year’s nominees.
“They were chosen based on the strength of their proposals and the strength of their interview—urpose and passion, maturity and poise, energy and innovation, and strength of character,” Brown said of the nominees. “We are delighted that Marlon and Leigh were selected as Fellows.”
Brown went on to describe the experience she has seen students undergo.
“After that year of independent travel, Watson Fellows come out not only with more knowledge about the interest they were exploring, but also with a greater confidence and understanding of themselves and their capabilities, a greater appreciation of other cultures and peoples, and a better understanding of how to contribute to a global community,” she said.
There will be an informational meeting about the fellowship on April 19 from 4:15-5 p.m. in PAC 004.
“Wesleyan students make wonderful Watson Fellows,” said Brown.
Leave a Reply