CONWAY, Ark. (April
2, 2020) — Hendrix College students Claire Fleming ’20, an interdisciplinary studies
(innovation and entrepreneurship) major from Bliss, Michigan, and Mackenzie
Gearin ’20, an interdisciplinary studies (social economics) major and mathematics
minor from Star Prairie, Wisconsin, have been announced as members of the 52nd
class of Thomas J. Watson Fellows.
The Watson
Fellowship is a one-year grant for purposeful, independent study outside the
United States, awarded to graduating seniors nominated by one of 40 partner colleges.
Fleming and Gearin are
the 36th and 37th Hendrix students to receive a Watson
Fellowship. (See the
full list)
Fleming’s Watson
Fellowship project, “Enhanced Livelihood: Seeking Intentional Workplace
Practice,” will take her to Uganda, Kenya, India, and Colombia as she pursues
her interest in studying how individuals’ socioeconomic status at birth
influences their prosperity and quality of working life.
Fleming first
learned about the Watson Fellowship early in her time at Hendrix from previous
Watson Fellow Jessa Thurman ’16 and Bailey Library Director Britt Anne Murphy,
who serves as the College’s Watson liaison. “I realized there was an entire
community of people embodying the ideals I had always held as sacred and
inaccessible inside my head,” Fleming said. “With that inspiration, I have
sought to push past fear and try to embody the spirit of the fellowship in
every step of my journey, which has led to many breakdowns and failures. I am
so grateful failure has faithfully led to small pieces of invaluable wisdom for
me. The most important thing I have gained is a community of friends and
colleagues I owe every success to and still depend upon entirely. I am so ready
and excited to join with international comrades to see standard-defying
solutions to haunting workplace issues. I hope for this experience to expand my
understanding of community and its role in working spaces.”
Gearin’s project,
“From Persecution to Refuge: Grassroots Peacebuilding in Displacement,”
includes travel to Colombia, Kenya, Uganda, India, and Sri Lanka to immerse
herself in communities that have been displaced by conflict. She finds herself “both
thrilled and incredibly nervous” about the opportunity.
“When lots of
people think about migration, they often picture refugees and migrants
scrambling to Europe and North America. The reality is that a less than 1% of
all displaced peoples are resettled in the West each year, and the vast
majority remain displaced,” Gearin said. “I look forward to being confronted
each day with the challenge of re-thinking justice and reconciliation, and
working alongside communities to re-imagine futures for the millions of
displaced people with whom I inhabit this planet. I am so excited to do this
project, and I am so thankful to my professors and peers who supported and
encouraged me during my years at Hendrix and throughout the application
process.”
Both Fleming and Gearin
have spent much of their time at Hendrix pursuing experiential learning
opportunities.
Fleming has
worked with the Hendrix Society of Innovators, founded Lay of the Land Designs
with a fellow student, collaborated with the Department of Physics to bring a
CO2 laser engraver to campus, traveled to Africa and Colorado to study social
entrepreneurship through the Hendrix Odyssey Program, connected with alumni in
nonprofit and community loan arenas for mentorship, and chaired the Campus
Sustainability Fund Committee, which is currently working on a solar panel
installation project and setting up students to live in a new Hendrix ECO
Living Community for 2020-2021 school year. She also participated in the
Hendrix Rowing Club and, in her senior year, joined the Hendrix Diving Team.
Gearin has worked
with a local nonprofit as a volunteer tax preparer for individuals and families
with low incomes, spearheaded a new program to register undocumented immigrants
and international students for Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers
(ITINs) so they can file taxes, participated in two Odyssey Program-funded summer
internships working with immigrants and refugees on the citizenship process and
microfinance and entrepreneurship projects, and used her Murphy Scholars
Program stipend to conduct a research project with exiled writers in London and
study abroad for a semester in Valparaíso, Chile. She also helped organize a
grassroots student group called Time’s Up, Hendrix, which began conversation
with administrators to advocate for changes to the College’s gender-based
misconduct policies and to design programs for a safer campus.
“All of our four
candidates worked so well together this year – David Samuel and Megan Bellfield
were the other two finalists the Honors Committee selected to put forth
applications for the national competition,” said Murphy, the College’s Watson
liaison. “Most years our Watson candidates know each other, and I encourage
them to work together as a team from the start: sharing their writing, offering
critiques and advice, and getting to know each other over dinner. This year the
five of us formed very strong bonds throughout the process, which is one of the
most rewarding aspects for me as liaison, and also a critical piece of the
process so that I can bring forth aspects of their lived experiences that will
make their applications more meaningful, and consequentially, successful.”
Murphy said that
the current coronavirus pandemic will be taken into account as the new Watson
Fellows schedule their travel. “Claire and Mackenzie will be working with the
Watson Foundation on their plans for next year,” she said. “I have no doubt
that all Watson Fellows will be taken care of by the Watson Foundation, who
puts the health and safety of their Fellows first in any situation.”
About Hendrix College
A private liberal
arts college in Conway, Arkansas, Hendrix College consistently earns
recognition as one of the country’s leading liberal arts institutions, and is
featured in Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change
the Way You Think About Colleges.
Its academic quality and rigor, innovation, and value have established Hendrix
as a fixture in numerous college guides, lists, and rankings. Founded in 1876,
Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. To
learn more, visit www.hendrix.edu.