Jillian Augustine, Reporter
@jillaugcourant
Last year, current senior and 2015 Wilburn Fellow John Bemis spent dozens of hours researching and rewriting the entire history of jazz music, all in an effort to,
“Foster the understanding of humanity’s differences, whether of gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion or culture, such that those differences can be respected, learned from, embraced and celebrated”
as stated in the mission statement of Wilburn Fellowship’s projects, found on their website.
John got involved with this project through the Wilburn Fellowship, a local organization inspired by former minister Gary Wilburn that provides funds for projects that students create to address and help solve worldly problems. This organization is currently headed by Warner Depuy and based in the First Presbyterian Church.
Every year, students or groups of students like John submit project proposals to the Fellowship. Once all ideas are proposed to the committee, three semi-finalists are chosen. Each receives a $1000 stipend to begin work on their projects. Then, about two and a half months later, the Wilburn Fellow is chosen out of the semi-finalists. These students then receive an additional $2000. As student liaison for the Fellowship, junior Jack Dahill said of the additional money, “the semi-finalists either finish their project or do with it what they please; like if their project doesn’t require any more funding they can put it towards college.”
Previous projects that have been submitted include a mural, an art gallery, and a movie. All ideas are welcome to be submitted, as long as they abide by the Fellowship mission statement, mentioned above.
The deadline for submitting projects was December 18th, and currently the applicants are working on their presentations, which will then be shown to a committee made up of guidance counselors, First Presbyterian Church members, and people from the New Canaan community, on January 29. Proposals the committee can look forward to this year include a website focused on scientific discoveries, a food bank, and a video game. Then, on February 3rd, the board will chose three to five finalists who will continue their projects, which are due on April 25th. Finally, on April 29th, this year’s Wilburn Fellow will be announced.
While John’s project was titled “Jazz: The Great American Art Form” and focused on the history of Jazz music through the lens of cultural integration, the projects submitted to the Wilburn Fellowship cover a wide range of topics and causes. “Even though a proposal may be a niche project like mine, it really matters in terms of the broader effect,” John said, referring to the important world problems that these projects may address. Along with that, John also believes that the crucial aspect of creating a good project is simply an interest in the topic.
“I’ve realized just how far kids are willing to go to make a difference,” Jack Dahill elaborated. “When kids really believe in something, they’ll put a lot of effort into it.”
Junior Emma Dahill, Student Liaison for the Wilburn Fellowship, added that the projects truly make a difference. “You see how to look at things from an accepting point of view, and it makes you consider different aspects of the globe; personalities and relationships.”
