The Our World – Underwater Scholarship Society has an annual weekend in New York. Events over the weekend bring together members of the society from all around the world and allow members to meet and learn about what projects are taking place. The 37th Annual Meeting began this year with a Friday evening dinner hosted by OW-USS scholar Ted Janulis and featuring remarks from the Board leadership team thanking the outgoing scholars and presenting the incoming nominees. The special evening featured much community, reminiscing and humor: we newbies were initiated with a ceremony involving cowboy hats, moustaches and pageant-style sashes.
On Saturday morning a symposium included presentations by 2010 scholars Josh Stewart, Ingrid Rushfeldt Kruger and Will Arlidge, interns Mykle Hoban and Brianne Billups, as well as updates from past scholars Kerry Nickols and Joe Stevens. It was remarkably interesting and exciting to see what others have done with the scholarship year.
An awards ceremony on Saturday night at the Explorer’s Club was the weekend’s main event and included presentations from Rolex introducing their new project, SeaOrbiter, as well as new ties with National Geographic. The outgoing scholars each presented a 15minute video to summarise their year of experiences. President George Wozencraft announced the 2011 internships and then he and John Flaherty of Rolex presented the 2011 Rolex Scholars; Erin McFadden from Scotland, Christian Clark from Hawaii and myself, Anthea Ibell, from New Zealand. The Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society is lucky to have a wonderful group of corporate and organizational partners which have been generous in supporting the scholars each year. On Saturday night we received student membership to the Explorer’s Club, DAN insurance and gear, Fourth Element undergarments, Light and Motion video housing, Olympus camera equipment and a Submariner timepiece from Rolex.
Mike Emmerman and Patricia Stockhausen, the New York events coordinators, hosted the Scholarship Society for a brunch on Sunday morning at their beautiful home in Manhattan. Everyone caught up, said goodbyes and attempted to recover from the big day before.
I want to thank everyone in the Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society for all the work they put in to making this weekend and the entire scholarship year run so well. George Wozencraft the President, Jayne Jenkins, Elvin Leech and Robin Parish the regional Vice Presidents, Roberta Flanders, Executive Administrator and Board Members Sara Shoemaker Lind, Maureen Sweeney, Martha Sanders, Debra Richardson and Jim Standing. Thanks to all the sponsors and supporters of the Our World Underwater Scholarship Society for their generosity and encouragement. Thanks also to my family who supported me in spirit from New Zealand and to Chris for being my companion. A special thank you to Mike Emmerman, Patricia Stockhausen and Ted Janulis for a wonderful weekend in New York City, see you next year!
