In many situations, the journey is much more important than the goal. Such is the case for this year's fellowship applicants, who were honored by the Career Planning Center (CPC) on Wednesday.
The CPC held a Fellowship Reception in Cram Alumni House to recognize students who have applied for any academic fellowship this year.
According to Anne Shields, director of the CPC, the focus of this reception is "celebrating the efforts of the students who choose to participate in these competitions."
"We invite every student who participated in the process," she said.
Faculty, staff, and students said that applying for a fellowship is a rewarding experience, although by no means easy.
"I congratulate you for putting in that kind of effort. It is a tribute to this college that you do such great work," President Barry Mills said.
Mike Igoe '07 said that he was "very happy" with the process of applying for a Watson fellowship, since it taught him about "convincing someone what you think is important actually is important."
"It makes people think carefully about their future [and be] more aware of their choices," said Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy Thomas Baumgarte, who is currently a member of the Faculty Fellowship Committee.
The fellowship committee and the CPC want to increase the public knowledge of fellowships, of which students are often unaware.
"I don't think enough students realize the number of scholarships out there," said Senior Associate Dean of Student Affairs Margaret Hazlett.
Due in equal parts to faculty and staff efforts and student enthusiasm and perseverance, a large number of Bowdoin students have won prestigious fellowship awards this year.
They include four Fulbright research grants and two Fulbright grants to teach English abroad, two Watson fellowships to travel and study for a year, one Goldwater fellowship for further study in mathematics and the sciences, and one Keasby fellowship to study at Oxford for two years.
The Fulbright research grant recipients are Karen Tang '07, who will study the divorce rate among middle-aged adults in Japan; Mara Partridge '05, who will travel to Mexico to study business; Dawn Riebeling '07, who will travel to Europe to investigate international cooperation in the United Nations; and JaeIn Lee '05, who will research the Korean immigrant community in Argentina.
"I wanted to push myself outside of my comfort zone...[and have] experience abroad to fill things out before grad school," said Reibeling.
"International cooperation is at the core of my interest, and at the core of the Fulbright mission too," she said.
Jordan Krechmer '07 and Hilary Pietricola '07 will both travel to Germany to teach English there.
The Watson fellowship winners are Nickolai Von Keller '07, who will travel to South America, the Caribbean, and Japan to study non-Western poetry, and Cotton Estes '07, who will study the rehabilitation of urban industrial structures, mainly in eastern Europe.
Johannes Strom '09 is the recipient of the Goldwater fellowship, and Mary Hartley Platt '07 was awarded a Keasby.