Sunday Feels Like Ancient History

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

I have already confirmed that applying to a doctoral program is a time consuming process.  Just half an hour ago I submitted my application for the Nancy Foster Scholarship Program.  I didn’t have much success using the online system to submit my application so I submitted it the old school way.  I sent the application using the U.S. Postal Service.  And I made sure to get a receipt that proves my successful submission of the application today.  Today was the deadline for applications.

I can easily remember the similar feeling of satisfaction I felt when I submitted my application to the McCloy Environmental Policy Fellowship program in March, 2012.  I wrote up my research proposal for that project in a matter of a few days.  Though I felt pleased with my success in submitting that application in a timely way I was not at all convinced my application would be perceived as sufficiently compelling to prompt an award.  I was thus quite shocked (to the point of tears actually) when I learned I had been awarded a fellowship by the American Council on Germany.  I ultimately took my research trip to Germany almost exactly a year after receiving notification of my award.  And when I came back from that journey in Europe my life suddenly, and unexpectedly, changed.  Now here I am eighteen months still later.

I’m not sure how wise it would be for me to embark on doing a doctoral program.  I love to learn and I love to do research.  In that regard I am a good candidate for such an endeavor.  But pursuing a doctorate requires a degree (no pun intended) of commitment and focus that can begin to wear on many a person after the initial enthusiasm for a chosen topic of research moderates.  If anything requires passion in life it would be a doctoral program.  I won’t know the results of my scholarship application until late May of next year.  Until then I get to continue to live my life, explore, daydream about other possibilities and wonder where my life is carrying me.

Between the process of applying for this scholarship and going through the judicial hearing I had yesterday morning I feel as if this past weekend is now something like months in the past.  It’s a bit surreal quite honestly.  But then again that is but one flavor not uncommon to the holiday season.  It seems strange that Christmas is only two weeks away.  In three weeks we will experience the beginning of 2015.

My love of Hawaii inspired my application to the Nancy Foster Scholarship Program.  I had no idea how much my life would be influenced by meeting Dr. Pamela Colorado some twelve years ago.  Meeting her and becoming a student of indigenous science profoundly altered the course of my life.  I find it difficult to even imagine who I would be today if I had not met her.