Adventure Through Education
An independent, immersive grant program awards students from Fairhaven College the chance of a lifetime to understand themselves and other cultures
By Emily Stout
Claudia Rocha was in a graffiti-supply store in Guadalajara, Mexico when she finally felt it. The store was small, tucked between a bar and a taqueria, and she had become friends with one of the workers. They talked about wanting to learn how to tattoo and jokingly made a deal to tattoo each other one day.
“I was like, oh, I do fit into this community,” she said.
Rocha spent almost a year in Mexico as a recipient of the Adventure Learning Grant, a program through Fairhaven College that awards $20,000 to about three students a year. Selected students plan and execute their own international trip that must last at least 10 months. The grant offers deep immersion into other cultures and a chance for them to ask profound questions about the world, without the usual limitations of a study-abroad program.
Rocha’s questions centered around how graffiti-art and tattooing create community in Mexico. She lived in three different cities there, getting to know local artists. She also wanted to explore her own Mexican heritage and how her life and work plays into that culture.
She sat in several tattoo chairs there, asking the artists questions about their lives. Rocha left the country with 11 new tattoos. Her favorite is one she got done by Malicia Pheonix, on her shin, of the Virgin of Guadalupe with a sugar skull face.
Almost a year after returning to the U.S., she sits on one of the plush couches in the Fairhaven Main Lounge.
“There’s still so much more to learn,” she said. “I came back with more questions, you know?”
According to Kathryn Anderson, a former coordinator of the grant, coming back with more questions is exactly the point. Students aren’t asked to produce anything, like a research paper or project. Instead, they are asked to be curious and maintain that curiosity throughout their travels.
The grant was funded and created in 2002 by David Mason, a man who was famous for his varying involvement at Fairhaven and Western. A former biology professor, he was part of the board that started Fairhaven.
“He had absolute faith in the student’s ability to determine the course of their own education,” Anderson said. “The grant reflects those views.”
Donation money from Mason is still funding the grant today. It was based loosely on another popular program called the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, which gives up to 50 grants a year to graduating seniors from four-year liberal arts schools. Similar to the Adventure Learning Grant, the Watson Fellowship requires recipients to be extremely independent and does not require a formal project or outcome.
Anderson said the idea of students being awarded money and not having to come back with a tangible product is hard to explain to other academics.
But, grant recipients like Rocha argue that the freedom of the grant allowed her to be more present while abroad.
“I’ve learned so much more from having breakfast with a friend I made in Guadalajara than I do going to classes,” she said.
The Planning
Gus Wimberger found out about the grant during his freshman year at Fairhaven. In one of his early classes, the instructor gave a presentation of all the opportunities available there. It was only briefly mentioned as the discussion moved on to other things, but he couldn’t get it out of his head.
“Every single year since that year, I was like I’m gonna apply, I’m gonna apply,” he said.
So he did. Now, after his fourth year in school, he’ll be going to Bolivia in September. He’s in the same position Rocha was in when she was first awarded the grant — grasping for connections in a foreign country and searching for ways to make this experience the best it can be.
Wimberger will be focusing on non-governmental organizations, or nonprofits that focus on international causes and development projects. He is curious about the ways these organizations work on the ground and how they impact political and social situations.
He chose Bolivia because of the work of a nonprofit in his hometown of Tacoma, Washington called Etta Projects, which works to alleviate poverty in Bolivian communities. While he’s excited about that connection, he’s still looking into other organizations to embed himself with.
Many who receive the grant rely on past recipients for guidance. Wimberger says the only people who can really give useful tips are those who have been in his shoes before.
Luckily, Wimberger and the other students leaving in the fall have had dinner a couple times with last year’s recipients, gathering around a table and asking questions about their experiences. Anderson said this is common among groups and that past recipients often feel a responsibility to pay it forward.
Overall, Wimberger is excited about the challenge ahead. His goal is to think differently when he returns.
“Inevitably it will change how I think about myself with a more transnational, global perspective,” he said.
On the trip
When Rocha first landed in Guadalajara, a family-friend picked her up from the airport. From there she was on her own, staying in a hostel that she had booked for the first few months.
Rocha had never travelled internationally on her own before. She had been to Mexico on a family vacation when she was 16, but was unprepared for the challenges she would face traveling alone and for much longer than a one-week vacation, experiencing culture shock and loneliness. She describes it as a roller coaster.
“The first half of it is really just trying to get on your feet,” Rocha said.
Challenges that accompany the grant may be why only 7–12 students apply each year. Anderson said that while many consider applying, they ultimately decide not to.
One thing Rocha didn’t expect was the feeling of inadequacy. She kept asking herself: “Who am I to get this grant? Who am I to get all this money? Who am I to go to this community that I can leave at any time?” she said.
While navigating her privilege and guilt was difficult, Rocha was reassured that this learning experience was important for herself and her community. She left knowing more about the networking and hardships involved in the artistic communities that she immersed herself in. It was one of the hardest times of her life, but also the most rewarding.
Eventually, she made friends with local artists and stayed with them. One tattoo artist who gave Rocha several tattoos is now one of her closest friends. She still keeps in contact with many people she met while away.
Changing perspective
Rocha is still processing all that she’s learned from her experience. Everytime she talks about it, she has something new to say.
“To be frank, it’s been really difficult coming back,” she said.
Rocha said one consequence of having such an immersive experience in a place she grew to love is that she views her current education as superficial at times. In academica, we talk a lot and theorize, which she thinks can distance us from real issues.
Difficulty adjusting to a traditional education system is common for those who have returned, Anderson said. They spend a year going where they want, when they want, but after returning they have to fall back into the rules of school and work. On top of that, they often realize little has changed in Bellingham.
One of the reasons Anderson pushes so hard for international education is that it teaches people new ways to be themselves. When her kids were young, she made it a priority to travel and live in new cities while on sabbatical.
“You go to a different city, a different community, and wow, the rules are completely different,” she said. “That really frees you to realize, oh, maybe those rules are not so important after all.”
Although Anderson is retired, she still conducts interviews with every recipient of the grant. She talks with them right before and after their trip and follows-up one year later. This allows them to reflect on the larger impacts of the grant.
“They talk very specifically about the ways in which the grant informs their choices and the work they do now,” she said.
Rocha has used her new knowledge and passions to shape her final years at Western. She is writing her Fairhaven concentration about how art influences Latinx culture and is pursuing a studio art degree where she uses multimedia and collage to make pop-art style pieces.
She plans to move back to Guadalajara, with friends she made last year, after she graduates.
