This is my first official OWUSS journal entry, and it should be posted on the scholarship web-page soon as well:
I’m very excited to be writing my first monthly journal entry as the 2008 North American Rolex Scholar. I first heard about the Our World Underwater Scholarship Society during my senior year at the University of Southern California. I was spending my last semester living on Catalina Island, and was fortunate enough to hear about the scholarship from Karl Huggins, director of the Catalina Hyperbaric chamber. Although I hadn’t learned how to dive on Catalina, it was there that I realized how much I loved diving, and that it can be more than just a hobby. I really need to thank Karl, Gerry Smith and all the other ‘SC divers from Catalina for helping me discover my passion for diving.
After a long and in-depth application process, culminating in a thorough interview, I was shocked and overjoyed to learn that I had actually been selected as the 2008 North American Scholar. A year ago I never would have dreamt that I would have been chosen to receive this tremendous honor. The weeks after my selection were filled with excitement and impatience. After exchanging a flurry of emails with all sorts of people related to the scholarship, I finally met up with my new national coordinator and ‘mer-mom’ Robin Parish and the 2007 North American Scholar Brenna Mahoney at the 2008 Beneath The Sea dive show in Secaucus, NJ. We spent the entire weekend running from booth to booth, meeting new people and catching up with friends that Brenna had made during her scholarship year. We met up with Jim Standing at the fourth element booth, and even got some time in with John Chatterton and Richie Kohler. We also got to stop off at the DUI booth and meet up with Faith Ortins. Not only did I get fitted for a brand new DUI drysuit, but I got to run around the convention center in a DUI undersuit/telly-tubby costume.
Brenna, Robin and I were also lucky enough to be guests of Dan and Betty Orr at the Fish ‘n Famous dinner on Saturday night and the BTS awards banquet and film festival on Sunday night. Dan and Betty were really gracious hosts and introduced Brenna and I to an incredible number of people including Stan Waterman, Wyland, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Dr. Kathy Sullivan, Wes Skiles, and David Doubilet. The films shown on Sunday evening were terrific, and we had a blast. By the end of the weekend I was almost ready to head home for some sleep.
Unfortunately, the end of Beneath The Sea meant I was heading back to school until the OW-USS banquet on April 12th. Luckily my schoolwork kept me busy, and it wasn’t long before I was catching a train to New York City for the big weekend! After dropping my bags off in my room, I went down to the lobby to meet Elvin Leech, Jim Corry, Lars Kirkegaard, and my fellow adventurers Steve Lindfield and Eline Feenstra for the first time! I was very excited (and a little bit nervous) to meet my fellow scholars in person for the first time. As soon as everyone was ready, Elvin, Lars, Eline, Steve and I piled into a taxi and headed over to Rolex USA for a last minute fitting and a quick tour. We were met by Mr. John Flaherty and Ms. Randy Greenberg, and got a quick glimpse of our watches before they were hidden away until Saturday night. We also got to take a look behind the scenes at Rolex USA’s art department and a sneak preview of the new Oyster designs Rolex is getting ready to release next year. The watches were incredibly beautiful and Eline, Steve and I were really excited to get a sneak peak of the goings on at Rolex.
Once we arrived back at the hotel, the weekend began in earnest. I had thought that my experience at Beneath The Sea was intense, but I was about to find out exactly how important and exciting this weekend was going to be. After an extensive round of introductions, everyone headed off to the theater to see a production of “The Conscientious Objector” courtesy of Mike Emmerman and Pat Stockhausen. The show was excellent, and everybody was able to go to the cast party afterwards, which was a lot of fun. The next day the new scholars were introduced to the board of directors, and the previous year’s scholars gave brief presentations on their years’ experiences. That afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Feenstra were kind enough to take Steve, Eline and I to the Whitney and the Frick Galleries. My family arrived on Friday night in time for a fun dinner at the Byblos restaurant thanks to the generosity of Ted and Barbara Janulis. The food was excellent, and I was happy that my family had arrived and was able to meet everyone involved with the scholarship.
The next morning everybody headed over to Mike Emmerman’s office for a series of lectures, including presentations by the 2007 scholars. It was especially interesting hearing from some of the OW-USS interns about what they had been up to in 2007. After the lectures, as the excitement for Saturday night’s festivities really began to build, Jim Standing called all the scholars into his hotel room and began loading us up with loot. I was amazed that Jim had been able to bring so much awesome Fourth Element gear with him all the way from the UK. Each scholar received some top-notch drysuit undergarments, a killer 5mm wetsuit complete with hood and huge assortment of hats, jackets and shirts.
Saturday’s dinner was being held at the Explorer’s Club, which is an exciting place to visit in its own right. Luckily Steve, Eline and I managed to sneak in a quick tour with Brenna, Igor and Matt between cocktails and the pre-dinner photo session. The evening began with the presentation of the movies that Brenna, Igor and Matt has made during their scholarship years, which were incredible and inspiring. After dinner had ended, the moment that Steve, Eline and I had all been waiting for had finally arrived. We were brought to the front of the room and awarded our medals and Rolex Submariners by Jim Corry, George Wozencraft and John Flaherty. Dan Bennett, president of the Explorer’s Club presented us with our student memberships. The three of us also received gifts from Fourth Element, DAN, Suunto, Light & Motion and Scuba Diving Magazine. Each of us tried our best to convey our incredible gratitude and excitement with a few short words and that was it. We were now the official 2008 Rolex Scholars.
Steve Lindfield, Dan Bennett, Eline Feenstra, Jamie Brisbin and John Flaherty
By Sunday morning I was hardly able to stay on my feet. Everyone met for brunch at Mike and Pat’s house, and said their goodbyes before heading home. The weekend had already been an incredible and life-changing event, and I still had an entire year to go! I really want to thank all the wonderful people I met, all the board members, all the coordinators and supporters of the scholarship. There are far too many of you to name here, but I had such a good time in New York with all of you, and I’m so honored to have been chosen to join such a special family of people. I still have a little school left to complete until I can really begin my travels, but by next month I should be on my way!
