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Otis Fellows Named for 2006 - 2008

Three Bates students received Philip J. Otis Fellowships for 2008.

Otis Fellowships provide major funding for students who have designed exceptional ways to explore the relationship of individuals and societies and the natural world. Otis Fellowships are funded by an endowment established by the Wurtele and Otis families, in memory of Philip J. Otis '95, who died while still a student, attempting to rescue a hiker on Mt. Rainier.

HWI ING NG '09: Following the Ganges – A Collision of Flesh and Spirit in Water. Ms. Ng documented in photography and writing the changing phases of the River Ganges from the place of its birth to the point of its union with the ocean, and explored how man has altered the banks and course over the miles.

ELLEN SABINA '09: The Faroe Islands. Ms. Sabina traveled to Faroe Islands and explored the relationship between the Faroese people and ocean. Isolated by geography and fiercely proud of their heritage, the people of the Faroe Island depend almost entirely on the sea for survival and adhere to the traditions that sustained their ancestors, including the driving of the pilot whales.

ANNA SKARSTAD '11: Farming in the Western Fjords of Norway: An Endangered Life? Ms. Skarstad spent her summer on a remote, traditional farm in the western fjords of Norway, working and learning centuries-old farming techniques and handicrafts used in the challenging conditions of the mountainous 'shelf-farm', many of which already stand abandoned. She focused on whether the new pressures of obtrusive tourism and further human interference would change the farmers' profound relationship with their land.

2007 Otis Fellows

.Kaitlin Galloway '10: El Camino de Santiago: A Pilgrimage of Land and Spirit. Ms. Galloway followed the famous Christian pilgrimage of spiritual awakening across Europe along the El Camino de Santiago route, recording her experience in photography and writing.

Alexander Martin '08 and Benjamin Reilly '08: In the Footsteps of Natives and Northmen: The Northern Forest by Canoe. Mr. Martin and Mr. Reilly paddled the entire 740 mile Northern Forest Canoe Trail from New York to Maine, exploring the legacy of the northern waterways and developing an intimate knowledge of the New England landscape in its wilderness, rural, and urban manifestations.

Tucker Pawlick '09: Towards a Culture of Sustainability. Mr. Pawlick spent three months living and working on three different Mayan farming collectives in Guatemala, exploring how indigenous Mayan agricultural and ecological knowledge and modern permaculture practices combine to provide new forms of ecological sustainability and human relationships with the earth.

Rose Schwab '09: The Spiritual Power of Sustenance-Based Land Use, Romania. Ms. Schwab travelled to Homordszentpeter, in Transylvania, Romania, sharing and connecting with local villagers strong in the Unitarian faith. Ms. Schwab’s spiritual journey began in this region, from which her heritage descends, as she considers a career in the Unitarian Universalist ministry.

2006 Otis Fellows

Gabriela Anhalzer and Valerie LaRiviere '07: The Incan Royal Highway: A Path from the Past to the Future. Ms. Anhalzer and Ms. LaRiviere hiked sections of the ancient Incan Royal Highway through Ecuador and Peru where they explored the conservation issues surrounding this highway in regard to using ecotourism as a viable source of environmental conservation.

Jacob Bluestone '07: A Land of Opportunity: The Middle; North to South. Mr. Bluestone spent the summer exploring the Great Plains by documenting the wide open spaces of sparsely populated regions of the United States, and the relationship between topography and its inhabitants through his photography.

Khoa Pham '07: A Revisiting the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Mr. Pham traveled through six provinces of Vietnam along the Ho Chi Mink Trail to experience the economic and cultural aspects of various sections across the Vietnam and to explore a personal interest in the social and environment complexities of development