Five Rockefeller Winners Plan for Study Abroad

Five seniors were named as the recipients of the Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Fellowship Saturday.

Established in 1966 for graduating students, the Rockefellers contribute $14,000 to a year of purposeful postgraduate study abroad.

This year's recipients are Anne C. Durston '01 of Leverett House, Mellody R. Hayes '01 of Lowell House, Brian M. Milder '01 of Mather House, Kanu M. Okike '01 of Currier House, and Renee J. Raphael '01 of Cabot House.

"Typically, the Fellowship focuses on people at some kind of cross-roads, looking to do some intensive exploration. There is a lot of emphasis on a sense of urgency to get time to stop and think and reflect to get past that cross-road," Paul Bohlmann, director of fellowships at the Office of Career Services said.

Milder will travel to Santiago, Chile, to examine social and political networks in working class communities.

He said he plans to start by volunteering with a community health organization there, as he is generally interested in leftist social and political activism.

"My project is designed to explore issues that I'm interested in and would hopefully shed light on any future things I would go into. It would give me a challenging independent experience," Milder said.

He will spend anywhere form nine to 12 months abroad.

"I'm excited and nervous. I need to work on my Spanish. I'm also hoping to play some soccer down there," he said.

Raphael will travel to the Ecuadorian Amazon in August or September to assist in remote public health education initiatives.

She will venture through the rainforests along with a physician from Child Family Health International, an organization that provides free health care and surgery.

"I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do next year. I've always kind of wanted to go to the rainforest," Raphael said.

Durston will travel to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to teach music and environmental science to children.

Hayes will travel to Beijing, China to investigate how educational needs and social inequality are culturally understood.

Okike will travel to rural Ghana to teach children about disease and its prevention.

Recipients of the Rockefeller Fellowship were first nominated by House Fellowship advisors.

This year, the five seniors were selected from about 35 candidates submitted by all the Houses.

The Fellowship began as a memorial to Michael C. Rockefeller, son of Nelson Rockefeller, who died while travelling to Papa New Guinea after graduation. It is given yearly to seniors with uncertain plans for the future.