Ledger

Every year, University of Washington alumnus David Bonderman gives a fellowship to just five undergraduates in the entire UW university system. Recipients are awarded $20,000 to spend traveling the globe.

UWT Global Honors student Arabie Jaloway recently won the prestigious fellowship.

The only stipulations? In order to gain perspective on what it means to be a global citizen, she must travel abroad for eight months alone, and she can’t return to the United States during the fellowship.

How did you hear about the fellowship?

Global Honors. Only honors students can apply. This is the first year that UWT has been allowed to have any applicants because the Global Honors program just started last year at UWT.

What were the steps that you had to take?

Well, there was fire juggling – that was difficult. There was walking on hot coals... No, seriously, it started with an essay that I wrote no less than 10 separate times. And I don’t mean that I cut and pasted and rewrote; I had to start the thing over. They chose 20 finalists from the essay and then you had to go in and do the interview.

The interview – how did that play out?

I know that one [finalist] left in tears. I had the famous potato question – that was really interesting, it was quite an experience.

Okay, I’m intrigued. Tell me about the potato question.

Okay, eight people at a long table – you’re at the head of the table, and they’re all staring at you, asking rapid-fire questions.And I’m prepared. I have these little speeches about who I am and who I want to be. I mean you basically have a wider sense of what they’re going to ask, and so I thought I was doing really well, and I was kind of getting comfortable.

Right at the moment when I began to feel comfortable – and I’m sure he timed it this way on purpose – a guy at the end of the table gets up, walks over to me, hands behind his back, and says, “You’re on the plains of Kenya, you’re surrounded by the Masai. The Masai chief walks up to you, you don’t speak his language – he speaks no English. And he hands you this.” And he sticks a potato in my face. I mean, what do you do? I looked at him with shock and horror for a second, and I managed to manufacture an answer…

Apparently the idea was to see how I responded to the unexpected.

Where are you going to travel with the fellowship money?

Disney World. Seriously, I’m going to spend a month and a half in Western Europe on my own dime. When Bonderman starts, I’m going to start in South Africa. The idea is that it helps you get a sense of your place in the world and what you’re going to do after college, so Cougar National Park in South Africa, then Tanzania, Kenya, then I’m going to go to Java… After that India, China – which is interesting, because China is a microcosm of the state of the world. Everything that can be a problem for the human species and every way that humans can live unsustainably, China exemplifies. So I’ll go there and get thoroughly depressed, and then as a pick-me-up I’m going to Australia and New Zealand.

What do you hope to learn from this experience?

Honestly for me this is kind of an opportunity to address some really big personal issues. I have this blank canvas I didn’t expect to have, this ability to do things that I never expected to do.

A year and a half ago I was married and had a mortgage. 2006 was an insane year and I ended up at the end of it with an opportunity to do whatever I wanted to, and along came the Bonderman.

I basically want to find out where I’m most useful in the world.

I’m going to school, and I love what I’m studying, and I really want to do something with it that makes the greatest impact, that ripple effect that all of our lives have. I want to maximize that. So I’m kind of going out into the world to find out where I’m most useful.

Article Tools