A L U M N I M A G A Z I N E - Colby-Sawyer College

esponses to a new problem, and the
generation of a response required a reformulation
of the problem. I reflected on
the fiscal challenges I faced as a graduate
student, a time when eating nothing
but ramen noodles and sleeping in my
car was an acceptable way to stretch my
resources. While incomprehensible now,
the younger man I once was accepted
this as a perfectly reasonable solution. As
I reminisced on the incredible power of
students to achieve great things with few
resources, the challenge we had originally
set out to address shifted subtly to allow for a solution.
The advisory group initially approached the challenge of
a larger than expected incoming class as one of “top-down”
resource allocation, but we came to see that reframing the problem
and our role in it would lead to more effective solutions.
The memory of my years as a cash-strapped but intellectually
curious student allowed me to realize that the honors program
could tap into the energy, adaptability and frugality of the honors
students themselves. While Wesson Weekends provided an
excellent opportunity for faculty to create and lead academic
excursions, this faculty-driven program could be expanded to
include a “bottom-up” program designed to fund projects created
and led by students themselves. This was the seed that,
with the enthusiastic guidance of Wesson Honors Program
Coordinator Ann Page Stecker and support of the advisory
group, grew into the Wesson Idea Fund.
The Wesson Idea Fund provides resources for students to
initiate and undertake independent learning projects that complement
and enrich their Colby-Sawyer experience. Students,
either individually or in pairs, apply for funding by writing
a grant proposal that outlines the goals, timeline and budget
for a project of their own creation. Students must also lay out
a plan for how the applicant(s) will share the project with the
When we learned about the Wesson
Idea Fund, we were excited. We thought
the best way to gain a more objective
understanding of the Tibetan situation
would be to talk to as many people with
as many perspectives on the issue as possible.
There is a significant Tibetan refugee
population in Nepal and India, and we
knew that the opportunity to talk to both
the refugee and the host populations in
these countries would be invaluable to our
research. As a college student strapped for
cash, I had been planning to spend almost
all my savings on my plane ticket to China.
The grant we received from the Wesson
Idea Fund made extended travel into India
Ye “Julia” Zhu ’13 (back row, center) and two other student teachers pose with their students at Hefei
Guang Cai Hope Primary School in Fei Dong, Anhui Province, China. Julia was able to study primary
education in China in summer 2010 and introduced new activities in the classrooms through support from
a Wesson Idea Fund grant.
and Nepal possible.
The Wesson Idea Fund emphasizes
how an independent project can have an
impact on the community at large. When I
returned from Asia, everyone was eager to
hear about my travels. It was in answering
questions and sharing stories that I truly
realized the significance of the project.
We didn’t come to any great conclusions
about Tibet, but we did bring the issues
of sovereignty and the refugee situation
to the attention of many people in the
Colby-Sawyer community. We initiated an
important conversation.
Before the project, I had the vague
notion, probably planted by Lisa Simpson
Colby-Sawyer community. Toward the goal of increasing faculty/student
interaction and shared learning, project proposals
must also be endorsed by a faculty mentor, and are reviewed by
a committee of faculty and staff who collectively decide which
projects to fund.
Though only in its second year, the positive effect of the
Wesson Idea Fund is already being felt. The academic impact
of the program has most immediately, and clearly, been seen
at the level of individual student learning. The Idea Fund offers
rare opportunities to undergraduate students: financial support
to undertake original research. Often, this research stems
from a question or theme that was presented in a Colby-Sawyer
classroom.
In the summer of 2010, Ye “Julia” Zhu ’13 constructed a
project focused on methods of improving English instruction
in China. Working with Associate Professor Janet Bliss in the
Early Childhood Education program, Ye not only interviewed
Chinese students and teachers to study China’s rural/urban
education gap, she also designed class activities for a rural
school in Anhui Province that incorporated innovative pedagogical
techniques.
Shu Wen Teo ’13 was awarded an Idea Fund grant that
she used to undertake an ambitious study of democracy in
Yujia “Echo” Wang sits in a restaurant in Chengdu,
China, while travelling with roommate Kylie Dally.
SUMMER 2011 39