Seniors Riley Cooper (left), Maryanne Ndung’u (middle) and Darta Sipola (right) have been awarded the prestigious Watson Fellowship, which offers a unique opportunity to pursue a fully self-designed project abroad during the year after graduation. Whitman had the most Watson Fellows selected from any institution this year.
With a $40,000 grant, the fellowship supports graduates in exploring a topic they are deeply passionate about on a global scale. Fellows also receive health insurance and support for student loan payments, making it possible to focus entirely on personal and intellectual growth during the year.
Riley Cooper ’26, an English and Film and Media Studies double major from Broomfield, Colorado, will combine her passion for animals and documentary filmmaking in a global project featuring human-animal relationships. Her project will take her to six countries—Iceland, Kyrgyzstan, Peru, Japan, Australia and England—where she will explore how different cultures understand and interact with animals.
Maryanne Ndung’u ’26, an Economics-Mathematics major from Nairobi, Kenya, is turning her passion for business into a global learning experience. As a Watson Fellow, she will travel across South Africa, Ghana, Morocco, The Gambia and Tanzania. Ndung’u’s project focuses on “necessity-driven businesses,” small enterprises created out of need, often without outside funding or support. Ndung’u aims to understand how these businesses survive, grow and balance profit with community impact.
Darta Sipola ’26, a Brain, Behavior and Cognition major from Seattle, will use her Watson year to examine how different countries address challenges in rural health care access, looking at approaches shaped by geography, funding and cultural priorities. She plans to travel to Fiji, New Zealand, Nepal, Greece, Peru, Bolivia, Sweden and Senegal, each chosen for a specific aspect of their health care systems.
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