NCS Fellowships Help Students Pursue Their Passions

Fourteen NCS students embarked on international adventures, dove into compelling research topics, and pursued unique artistic projects over the summer, thanks to school fellowships.

A recipient of the Lauren Sarah Hester ’87 Fellowship, Maryam Pate ’20 spent her summer in Morocco and explored the contemporary feminist movement there. She interviewed women in urban and rural areas about the relationship between Islamic and secular perspectives. She then produced a podcast with the interviews and wrote about her experience for the Fall 2019 issue of NCS Magazine.

During a presentation about her fellowship this fall, Pate challenged her classmates to “broaden our understanding of the female experience, particularly around the world, and to expand our definition of feminism to include things like Islamic feminism.” Pate’s experience, she said, also clarified her desire to work toward global women’s empowerment.

Intrigued by linguistics, Zandi E. ’20 studied the past, present, and future of the Onondaga language with her Hester Fellowship prize. She read books, visited cultural centers, and interviewed members of the Native American tribe in New York to gather research on the language. Onondaga is spoken by a small number of people and has been called a critically endangered language. “This project really changed my life, and I’m still processing it. It’s an experience I think about every day,” Zandi said.

With her Skye Raiser ’85 Environmental Fellowship, Bea Markham ’20 traveled to Portland, Ore., to study the effects of climate change on temperate rainforests. She worked with a professor from the University of Portland to observe tree swallows, purple martins, and other birds in their native habitat. She said her role in a larger study gave her a peek into the research world and how detail-oriented the work can be. “It showed me that a career in research is possible and cemented my desire to do that,” she told Upper Schoolers this fall.

Yara Sigvaldason ’20 had the added benefit of meeting distant family relatives during her Raiser Fellowship trip to Iceland. There, she helped investigate the rise of geothermal power plants as an alternative energy resource around the world and whether they can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Sigvaldason urged her classmates to “pay attention to where your energy is coming from.”

Building upon her community service work at Sibley Memorial Hospital, Bridget Scott ’20 studied the intersection of health care and environment with her Raiser Fellowship award. She researched energy-efficient initiatives, such as gardens, solar panels, and green roofs, at Sibley and at Gundersen Health System in La Crosse, Wis. and their impact on patient health. “The environment has the power to heal you, but only you have the power to heal the environment,” Scott said to her fellow Upper Schoolers during an assembly.

Anika Mitra ’20 and Sam Douki ’20 received the Koch Fellowship, which provides the opportunity to study through the Oxbridge Academic Program in Oxford, England. Mitra spent her summer studying fantasy literature, including the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, and her final assignment was to create her own fantasy world. Mitra also minored in medical science, which allowed her to watch a full human autopsy and practice measuring vitals, doing CPR, and performing sutures. Douki majored in neuropsychology and minored in finance and banking during her time in Oxford. Her final projects were a neuropsychological interactive exhibit and an investing exercise in the stock market.

Both students praised the fellowship for offering them independence and helping them forge new friendships. “Being in Oxford is such a magical experience, and meeting such a wonderful group of people was really transformative at this point in our lives,” said Mitra during an October assembly.

The Visual Arts Fellowship, which was established last summer, helped Helena Getahun-Hawkins ’21 write, illustrate, and print a children’s book in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia. “This fellowship not only gave me the financial resources to carry out my project, but it also gave me the push I needed to follow through on this idea I have had for a long time,” she wrote in a summary of her project.

Vicky Wang ’20 pursued her love of children’s book illustrations by practicing watercolor painting; her works were about the dreams of children she interviewed on a two-week trip to Fujian, China.

Other visual artists used photography to showcase their talents and interests. Emilia Boggs ’20 captured the Cuban immigrant story in Little Havana in Miami, writing that “it allowed me to learn more about the history of my family through creative means.” She embarked on a culinary tour and captured images of the environment and portraits of people she met along the way. Meanwhile, Nicole Vernot-Jonas ’20 traveled to Krakow, Poland, to study and photograph historical sites of Jewish and Polish oppression, after which she created a photo journal. Julia Buzacott ’21 used digital art techniques to enhance photographs she took of Washington, D.C., landmarks.

Nia Brown ’21 combined her love of visual and written arts by studying ekphrastic writing at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla., and Smith College in Northampton, Mass. Campbell Musslewhite ’21 explored her passion for the environment by taking a film class at American University and making her own documentary. She focused on the impact of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline on the environment in rural Virginia.

Congratulations to these impressive fellows on their summer projects!