NEW YORK, N.Y. - Bard College senior
Harry Johnson has won a prestigious Watson Fellowship, it was announced Wednesday.
A Watson Fellowship is a $30,000 grant for "a year of independent, purposeful exploration and travel outside of the United States." Johnson's project submission in entitled "Playing for Change: Innovative Uses of Sport."
He will travel to India, the United Kingdom, Australia and the Dominican Republic. The summary of his plan reads like this:
"Sport participation and popularity differs around the globe based on site-specific socioeconomic conditions, as well as historical and cultural values. These same variables have fostered many innovative uses of sport to combat social ills afflicting communities worldwide. During my Watson year, I will explore how sports are utilized to counteract issues such as gender inequality, youth unemployment, social exclusion and elevated high school dropout rates."
Watson awardees come from private liberal arts colleges and universities across the United States. From the program's 40 partner institutions, 149 finalists were nominated to compete on the national level from which 40 Fellows were selected. This year's class comes from six countries and 21 states, according to the Watson web site.
"As we approach a half century of taking big bets on students, we are thrilled to announce this year's class of talented fellows," said Chris Kasabach, Executive Director of the Watson Foundation, in a press release. "We work with a terrific group of partner institutions and the new class shows the enormous depth and width of our next generation leaders."
The fellowship caps what has been an incredible four years for Johnson at Bard. Aside from being on the men's basketball team for four years and leading the team in scoring this winter, Johnson co-founded Brothers at Bard with classmate Dariel Vasquez. The group was created to give young black men on campus a safe place to discuss life here, or other social issues.
He also directed Dream to Achieve, which was created through Bard's Trustee-Leader Scholar program. Using basketball, Johnson mentored underprivileged youths in nearby Hudson, N.Y., teaching them life skills, discipline, time management and respect for others.
Last year, Johnson was selected from a pool of 154 candidates to be one of just 10 players nationally to make the Allstate Insurance Company National Association of Basketball Coaches Good Works Team. The award recognizes basketball student-athletes who dedicate themselves to bettering the lives of others by giving back in their communities. Only five of the 10 winners were from NCAA Div. III programs. That story is right here.
Also last year, Johnson was chosen to participate in the Bard Student Conference in Budapest, Hungary, during Spring Break, through Bard's Center for Civic Engagement. It led to a whirlwind few weeks that had him traveling to Budapest, returning to Bard, then going to the Final Four in Houston as part of the Allstate/NABC Good Works Team. His odyssey was detailed in this story.
Johnson played in 96 out a possible 100 games in his basketball career at Bard, including the last 92 in a row. This past season, he led the team with 10.6 points and 29.6 minutes played per game. He made a career-high 58 three-pointers.
A Sociology major from Smyrna, Del., Johnson was named to the Liberty League All-Academic Team in February. Qualifiers had to have a GPA of 3.30 or higher.
