While some Bowdoin seniors will pursue graduate school or enter the working world after graduation in May, a handful of students from the Class of 2008 will be studying in various corners of the world?for free.
Three Bowdoin seniors, Amy Ahearn, Andrew Steltzer, and Grace Park, recently earned Fulbright Fellowships to travel to Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea, respectively. Steve Holleran '08 also received a Watson Fellowship to travel to several Pacific island countries.
According to Director of Student Fellowships and Research Cindy Stocks, 20 Bowdoin students applied for the Fulbright Fellowship, while 16 students applied for a recommendation for a Watson Fellowship.
In order to be eligible for a Fulbright Fellowship, students must complete a grant application and submit it to the Fulbright program, Stocks said. The Fulbright program then recommends applicants to the countries where they apply, and each country selects students in the second phase of admission.
Stocks said that at this time, some Bowdoin students who applied for the Fulbright Fellowship have yet to hear from the countries to which they applied.
"For the Fulbright, it's a very complex program with many subdivisions," she said. "The program our students applied to is the U.S. Student Program. Under that, it's broken down again. The most popular positions are for English teaching assistants and for research."
Steltzer said Bowdoin's Office of Student Fellowships and Research made applying for a Fulbright Fellowship relatively easy.
"Bowdoin was very helpful throughout the entire process, particularly in giving so much information to us early on at the end of junior year," he said. "That gave me a whole summer to ponder what I really wanted to do, and in order to write an application for something like the Fulbright, I think you need a fairly good idea of where you're going at the start of senior year."
Steltzer, who will research Japan's English language system in elementary through high school, said he will also take courses in language instruction at a Japanese university.
After his year as a Fulbright Fellow, Steltzer said he will most likely enter graduate school focusing on the research he will conduct in Japan.
Park, who will teach English in South Korea, said the Fulbright program notified her of her acceptance last Monday.
"I chose South Korea because my parents are South Korean and I never had a chance to visit there long-term," she said. "I wanted to learn more about East Asia, since my concentration here is government and East Asian studies."
While teaching English, Park said she plans to compare American and South Korean teaching methods.
"I wrote on the Fulbright application that I wanted to learn about test-oriented education," she said. "South Korea is a test-oriented society, while America is geared more toward what the student wants or needs."
The Fulbright Fellowship sends post-graduate students to over 140 countries, Stocks said. The fellowship, funded by the U.S. government, covers round-trip travel, supplementary allowance for research, baggage, housing, health and accident insurance, and a monthly stipend, she said.
According to the Fulbright Programs's Web site, the program awarded approximately 6,000 grants in 2007.
Students interested in applying for a Watson Fellowship apply first to a Bowdoin faculty committee, which reviews all applicants and then nominates four students from the College, Stocks said. The Watson Foundation then interviews each of the four candidates.
"From that four, Watson can select any number of them to actually get a Watson," said Stocks.
The Watson Foundation gives each of its 50 fellows a flat stipend of $25,000 for the year.
"The Watson Fellows have a conference that they attend at the end of their experience where they share their stories," she said. "Fulbright is about the cultural exchange. Fulbright wants U.S. citizens engaged in other countries and being ambassadors. They want them to bring back with them first-hand knowledge and understanding of the country that they just visited."
Steltzer said that he initially thought about working after graduation rather than going to Japan.
"I applied for a job after Bowdoin, but I decided that Fulbright would help me out more in the long term because of the quality of the experience," he said.
The only recipient of the Watson Fellowship in the Class of 2008, Holleran was notified of his acceptance on March 15. Holleran said he will spend the year in New Zealand, Chile, Fiji, and Western Samoa filming a documentary about sustainable fisheries in the South Pacific.
Holleran said he plans to examine how to better manage the ocean's fish populations in order to prevent overfishing.
Students unsure of their goals for post-graduate life should consider applying for a fellowship, Holleran said.
"For the last 21 years of your life, everything has built up to college," he said. "Now that's coming to an end, and there is a period where you don't know what to do. This gives you time to find yourself, find your bearings, and your direction."