The Watson Journey

When I emailed my College's Director of Fellowships at 1:57 AM on August 31st, 2021 about my interest in the Watson Fellowship program (oblivious that the extensive application deadline was on October 7th), I made the decision that would ultimately change my life forever. A spur-of-the-moment action that felt like a no-brainer to me at the time. I was in my senior year at Amherst College and had just started to write the beginning of my soon-to-be scrapped psychology thesis on Negrophilia. The social phenomenon is complex in nature but can be summarized as the fascination, appropriation, and eventual commodification of Black culture by white and non-Black societies. I had been introduced to the term when watching the film Get Out by Jordan Peele four years prior while in boarding school. The psychological horror resonated with me, giving me a new framework to observe, analyze, and honestly be wary of white society and higher education as I matriculated to what is now my alma mater. My senior thesis would be on the culmination of what I had peeped from my four years of undergrad, on Twitter threads and other parts of social media, the music industry, and across the globe: "Everyone wants to be Black, but nobody wants to be black.

It's a common saying in my community but revolutionary in its simplicity upon its dissection. The layers in this 11-word phrase encompass generations of systemic oppression, racism, cultural appropriation, capitalist motivations, and global implications. I realized that my research on Negrophilia, a term coined by 20th-century Parisians, should not be limited to American society but be investigated globally within different communities, cultures, and countries. After realizing that on August 31st a bit before 1:57 A.M. while doing thesis research, I knew I had to see if I could turn my thesis into something more relevant if I could turn my research into a Watson project. On September 20th, I realized at my first advising meeting with the Director that an application I had a couple of weeks to complete usually took several months of planning.

I needed to write two 1500-word supplementary essays, answer several short responses prompts, obtain two letters of recommendation, and propose a financial budget for my travel year for places I had not chosen yet. Worst of all, I had to find contacts within my proposed countries that would assist me upon landing. In hindsight, I should have stopped there, but I smiled in anxious glee for the Herculean task ahead of me because, of course, I had to see it through.

From that point forward, the Watson application became my main course, best friend, and biggest opponent, whereas the other four classes somewhat faded into the background until they had assessments. I frantically used Google, Facebook, Instagram, you name it, to find numerous contacts in Italy, Japan, South Korea, Chile, the UK, and France. I juggled writing essays, emailing potential contacts, calculating trip costs, etc. This task and keeping up with my overwhelming course load for that semester proved insanely hard. Thankfully, I am a night owl and conveniently did my best writing at night when most of my contacts were up. I wrote each essay through the night into the daylight in one session and revised it in the following days. The sleep I lost was worth the result when I finished all essay requirements and barely confirmed my four contacts on time. I was confident in my work, and by October 2nd completely converted all time working on my thesis into working on my app.

My gamble to apply at the last minute paid off when I was selected and interviewed for the first round of interviews with my College's selection committee on October 21st. I was then chosen as one of the final four candidates to interview with the Watson Foundation representative on the 25th for the fellowship award. After this interview, I waited multiple months with growing anxiety and confidence until March 15th to see if my initial risk was worth it. I heavily debated whether or not to start taking my MCAT study seriously all the way until I received my CONGRATULATIONS letter from the Watson Foundation! It was a surreal moment and still stands as one of my most significant accomplishments in life so far. With a late-night inquiry to my Director of Fellowship, who I cannot thank enough for their help, I made the leap from student psychologist to anthropologist without even knowing it.

I am preparing to embark on my Watson journey, learning French, trying to finalize housing in Paris before I arrive on August 1st, launching this personal website and Youtube, writing this blog post in the early morning of my 22nd birthday, and much more. I'll explain my travel process and share my application essays in future posts. Overall, I feel blessed to have this opportunity and pursue my interests and passions without reservations. Take the risk and have faith your dreams will come to pass. ÀSE.