By Camille Shooshani
For the first time, the Board of Trustees awarded the Junior Summer fellowship to seven juniors instead of one. Each junior will receive a $4,000 grant to study a topic of their choice while abroad. In the past, only one junior was given $3,500.
“I was so impressed with the quality of the submissions that I shared them at the March Board of Trustees meeting and invited trustees who caught my excitement to join in the underwriting in as many as we could, rather than restrict it to just one,” President Thomas C. Hudnut said.
Jordan Elist ’13, David Hoffman ’13, Kallista Kusemanagara ’13, David Lim ’13, Jose Morales ’13, Keane Muraoka-Robertson ’13 and Laurel Wayne ’13 each won the opportunity to pursue their interests abroad.
Elist will encourage middle and high school students in Spain to recycle more as a part of the organization he founded in 2008, “Save a bottle, save a life.”
”Spain had one of the lowest recycling rates in Europe according to a UN statistical report in 2011, and I want to reach out because [those students] have the capacity to make a difference,” Elist said.
Elist has been speaking at schools in the local and regional area, organizing raffles and prizes for the most successful students.
“Ever since I began the organization, I’ve been able to extend it to the regional and local community,” Elist said. “The junior fellowship has given me the opportunity to expand on an international level, a goal that I had set for myself when I created the organization four years ago.”
Hoffman will spend over two weeks in Jordan interviewing students at the University of Jordan to understand the effects of living under a monarchical government while taking classes to learn more about the Middle East.
“I took an Arabic class at UCLA, but the fellowship gives you the money and a reason to pursue something you wouldn’t otherwise,” Hoffman said. “Jordan was the safest country to do that.”
Keane Muraoka-Robertson ’13 will journey to Africa to study the economic impact of fresh water on rural villages. Women in many rural villages spend the majority of their time walking to distant fresh water sources, Muraoka-Robertson said.
“The creation of wells opens up many economic opportunities for the women who are given microloans,” she said. ” With the loans, they are able to start up small businesses and transform their lives. The impact of fresh water is outstanding, and it’s something we often take for granted.”
Kallista Kusumanegara ’13 chose to look at the effect of environmental circumstances on artists in Venice, Italy “because of its strong relationship with the Renaissance and its interesting gradual sinking situation,” she said.
“I plan to examine if there have been any changes in Venice’s modern artistic style or subject matter because of the rising concerns of the water,” she said.
Lim plans to research architecture and art in relation to literature in Rome and other sites in Italy.
Lim has studied Latin since the fifth grade and will use his encounters in an independent study senior year with Latin teacher Paul Chenier, who helped him plan the trip. Lim will blog his travels.
Wayne will take lessons in London with the first female trumpet player to ever hold a principal position in an orchestra, Anne McAneney. McAneney is a trumpeter in the London philharmonic and teacher at the Guild Hall School of Music.
“I wanted to find out what it’s like being a professional as a female,” Wayne said. “I’m very interested in her journey.”
Architecture drew Morales to Barcelona, where he wlll study Antoni Gaudi’s masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia and other works around the city by the artist.
