Learn more about the Watson Fellowship
 
GRINNELL, Iowa – Receiving a Watson Fellowship,  a one-year grant for purposeful, independent exploration outside the United States for graduating college seniors, is a prestigious honor to say the least.
 
That fact is certainly not lost on Max Hill '20, who graduates from Grinnell College this spring and was one of just 47 individuals nationwide to receive the award in 2020.
 
The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship is a rare window after college and pre-career to engage in the recipient's deepest interest on a global scale. Fellows conceive original projects, execute them outside of the United States for one year and embrace the ensuing journey. They decide where to go, whom to meet and when to change course.
 
Hill, an innovative and engaging political science major with a concentration in statistics, was also a wide receiver and kick returner for the Pioneer football team. He finished his career ranked ninth in program history for kick return yards with 847 and total kick returns with 50.

As an added bonus, he was awarded the President's Medal from Grinnell College upon graduation.
 
Grinnell Sports Information Director Ted Schultz recently did a question-and-answer with Hill about receiving the Watson.
 
Ted Schultz) What is the process you went through to gain the Watson Fellowship?
Max Hill) The process was a long one. I started all the way back in April when I was abroad and filled out the intent to apply form. From there I was brainstorming, writing, re-writing and reaching out to contacts in the countries I wanted to go to. This I did for the whole summer. When I got back to Grinnell for football training camp in August, I was finalizing my draft for the campus deadline in September. After submission, I had to do three individual interviews with faculty members on the selection committee. I was nominated in October, and afterward did some more cleaning up of my application which I submitted in November to the Watson Foundation. My formal interview was on December 6 and I found out March 20. I want to take this time to thank the people who helped me along with my Journey, from Camilla Roberts who helped me translate emails into Portuguese, my editors, Professor Stephen Andrews and Angelo Mercado, as well as Peter Hanson and Jonathan Nash for writing my letters of recommendation.
 
TS) Were you surprised to learn you received it?
MH) At the risk of sounding arrogant, I was not. Here is the reason why. I am a practicing Christian and one of the main tenants of this religion is faith. Hebrews 11:1 comes to mind where it says "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." I was constantly in prayer about whether this was something that I, alone, wanted for the clout of just receiving a cool fellowship and getting to travel, or was it an opportunity the Lord would use to help me grow in my walk with him. Once I obtained the answer of the latter, I was confident and things fell in place at each stage. 
 
TS) What are your plans during the year in which you use it?
MH) My project is called Black Masculinity and Martial Arts. I want to leverage martial arts as a tool to deconstruct what I feel like is the passive/aggressive dichotomies I have - and what I feel like other black men have internalized. Another layer to my project is seeing what it means to be black outside the context of the United States, specifically in countries with histories of colonialism - seeing how martial arts has influenced these masculine journeys. For this, I will study capoeira and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu in Salvador, Brazil; wrestling in Dakar, Senegal; jiu-jitsu and karate in Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic; and Jamaican Sambo in Kingston, Jamaica. 
 
TS) What is your overall goal from the experience in terms of how you implement what you learn?
MH) Practically speaking, my overall goal is to learn how to interact with other young black men and boys. I guess what I mean by interact, is how to create intimate relationships - both friendships and mentorships that allow us to be vulnerable and by extension have a more robust, prideless masculinity. I think martial arts play a key role in this because it allows me to explore in my own way. The training, the competition, the blood, sweat, and tears are organic which I hope leads to genuine interactions that aren't corny or awkward.
 
TS) Talk about how Grinnell College prepared you to earn the Watson?
MH) Grinnell is very much a school where you cannot be passive about your time - from my perspective this is due to the rural setting and a lackluster party scene. Going to this school really drew out my intrinsic motivation and helped me think and be intentional about what I do with my time. If I wanted to do something fun I had to look in places where I normally wouldn't. I chose to do kettlebell workouts with Caleb Elfenbein, learn how to sew, build tables with my landlord Danny Carroll or attend plays. The Watson was just one more example of looking in places where I normally wouldn't - the Office of Fellowships and Awards is a niche department in the CLS, one I think more people would benefit from if explored. Shoutout Ann Landstrom!