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Cars Culture Thomas J. Watson Fellowship for 2016

By Helen Sternberg '20

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Hamilton is one of 40 colleges and universities that offers students the unique opportunity to become a Watson Scholar. The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship Scholarship allows graduating seniors to spend a year abroad working on a project that they have brainstormed. 

Students apply with an idea for a project that interests them and that must be conducted abroad. With few other requirements, projects range from tackling poverty in developing countries to immersing oneself in foreign cultures and learning cultural differences on the view of death. Those who receive the scholarship must demonstrate leadership, imagination and resourcefulness, among a long list of other criteria. 

Benjamin Wesley ’16 was one of two Hamilton students to have received the scholarship last year, and is now traveling abroad to places, such as Japan and South Africa to pursue his passion for cars.

“My project examines how customized vehicles - think Fast and Furious - and their owners can be used to understand national culture,” Wesley said.  

Wesley’s interest in cars runs deep. Throughout his time in high school and college, his fascination became increasingly technical. He initially wanted to understand the mechanical aspects of cars, but after discovering the YouTube channel, “Regular Car Reviews,” in which the video’s narrator picks apart where a car fits into society rather than explaining the technical aspects, he found his inspiration for his Watson fellowship.

Wesley, who is currently in Brazil, is already making many discoveries about how car culture differs abroad from what it is here in the U.S.

“In Brazil, families that are wealthy tend to stay wealthy, because they can afford private high school and have strong connections in the government. But I came across a family where everyone in the most recent generations are lawyers, doctors [or] high level government employees except for two cousins who work on cars,” Wesley said. “I wrote a piece for my website about them and how that speaks volumes about the individualism that exists in Brazilian society.”

The two cousins Wesley mentioned gave up a wealthy lifestyle to pursue their passion for cars, a decision that their family supported. What surprised Wesley about this was that Americans usually emphasize how unique they are for the fact that they can make individual choices, but these two Brazilian cousins made the same choices. Perhaps Americans are not as unique as they think they are. 

Wesley is not only learning about the differences in car culture in foreign countries, but also forming conclusions on many aspects of cross-cultural interference.

“Right now I’m in Rio staying in a Favela, [Brazilian slum] and I’m reconsidering whether or not social work here would even be helpful, because everyone here is happy and has what they need to live healthy lives - they just don’t have much money. They live fine in a peaceful community and, on the whole, seem happy. This is just based on the opinions of a couple of people working here, but maybe they don’t need outside money or help,” Wesley said.

This may very well be the focal point of the Fellowship: to let students make discoveries that they did not intend on making. Cultural immersion has always been, and will remain, one of the most effective ways to learn. Upon meeting a winner of a Fulbright scholarship on his journey, Wesley now understands the true importance of studying abroad. 

“She had a theory that the year out of the country is actually extremely useful [in] breaking the ‘High School, College, Job or Grad school, one acre, 1.5 kids and a white picket fence’ mentality,” he said. 

The discoveries he’s making abroad are even affecting the ones he made back at home, allowing him to open his mind to new possibilities.

“I graduated as a Biochemistry major, and for my [project] I decided to start a website. Now I’m contemplating going into Automotive Journalism, Car Accessories, Consulting, or even Engineering in addition to a Genetics Job or Postgrad Biochemistry research.”

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