Scripps College senior Kyle Delbyck was awarded a prestigious 2009-2010 Watson Foundation Fellowship to spend a year exploring relationships between dramatic presentations and historical amnesia in Lithuania, Taiwan, Cambodia and Ghana. Delbyck, who plans a career as a playwright, will focus on the formation of historical narratives in theater, puppetry, dance and opera. She is one of only 40 students in the country to be awarded a Watson Fellowship this year and one of five from The Claremont Colleges to receive the grant.
Delbyck called the Watson fellowship “the opportunity of a lifetime.” She expects the year to be “challenging, fascinating, terrifying and thrilling.” She said, “I’m especially excited about exploring historical issues through the lens of dramatic expression, which will definitely stretch my imagination.” Praising the help she received from Scripps, she added: “The Scripps committee was so supportive and helpful throughout the whole process, and I don’t know if I could have done it without them.” Led by Susan Rankaitis, the Fletcher Jones Professor of Studio Art, the committee includes Gretchen Edwalds-Gilbert, associate professor of biology; Amy Marcus-Newhall, professor of psychology; Dion Scott-Kakures, the Mary W. Johnson and J. Stanley Johnson Professor in the Humanities; and Yvonne Frame, program administrator, Office of the President.
Each spring, the Watson Foundation awards fellowships to students of unusual promise to complete a year of independent exploration and travel outside of the United States. This year’s awardees, selected from 177 finalists, will each receive a $28,000 grant to fund their travel and research.