Seven students will travel abroad this summer as recipients of HW Go! Student Summer Fellowships.
The program supports projects designed by students to investigate the histories and traditions of foreign countries to promote students’ cultural persepctive and global responsibility.
Alison Oh ’19, Carmen Levine ’17 and Alitzel Villanueva ’17 received Latin-American and Iberian Studies Fellowships.
This fellowship initiative encourages students to immerse themselves in the Spanish language in Spanish-speaking countries to extend what is taught in classes.
Oh plans to study the lasting influences of the Islamic history Spain on its modern society, and Levine will examine the impact of Spanish colonization and religion on Mexican dance culture.
Villanueva will focus on gender roles of Mexican girls.
Connor Reese ’17, Rachel Lee ’17 and Maxwell Robertson ’17 received Asia Initiative Student Summer Fellowships.
As part of his fellowship, Reese will study Yohan Chu’s contributions as an architect of post-war reconstruction and the father of modern poetry in South Korea.
Lee will also travel to South Korea to complete research for a project about traditional folk painting and slip casting from the region.
Robertson will explore youth fashion trends and self-expression in Tokyo as part of his fellowship.
“I’m most excited for going to a place that I’ve always wanted to go to and especially because I’ve never been out of the U.S.,” Robertson said. “I have always liked Japan and Japanese culture and fashion, so I thought this would be perfect.”
Sahale Greenwood ’17 received the Junior Summer Fellowship, which will allow her to research global graffiti art of Los Angeles and Holland.
While the application process was only open to juniors for the Asia Initiative Student Summer Fellowship and Junior Summer Fellowship, the Latin-American and Iberian Studies Fellowship was open to all ninth, 10th and 11th graders.
Each applicant submitted a fellowship proposal in February outlining his or her inspiration and aspirations for the project, an itinerary and a budget.
Over the course of their fellowship trips, students will also prepare presentations in the form of videos, photos or journal entries to be shared with the student body in October of the following school year.
“I want kids to have an immersive experience abroad and really think deeply about what it means to be a global citizen,” Director of Kutler Center and Summer Programs Jim Patterson said. “We look for projects that require student creativity and independence. I was particularly impressed with the winners this year.”
Students in past years have also had the opportunity to travel to other foreign countries including Cameroon, China and India as part of their fellowships.
