Thomas J. Watson Fellowship Grant: Wilderness and Human Flourishing
Plitvice National Park, Croatia
Elijah applied for the Thomas J. Watson fellowship at Berea College in his senior year as an incredible opportunity to widen his horizons and gain practical and experiential understanding of the strategies and methods that other communities have undertaken to balance environment (often the draw of tourism endeavors, at least at first), the community, economic demand, and tourist experience.
He and Moriah Wilbur were engaged that March. While scrolling through the “2023 TJW fellow’s” page a few days later, Moriah was the first to find out that Elijah won the Watson Fellowship. There was much celebration and anticipation for the exciting life changing year ahead of them.
Triglav National Park, Bohinj, Slovenia
On July 29th, 2023, they were married on the top of a cliff in the RRG. Two days later they boarded a flight together to the incredible Cloud Forests of Costa Rica.
Their Watson project took them to some of the most beautiful and interesting places in the world where they learned first hand about the many interlocking layers at play in ecotourism, community empowerment, and wilderness preservation. They traveled to eight countries: Costa Rica, Mexico, Belize, New Zealand, Slovenia, Croatia, and Georgia, documenting stories of practical hope with which to live and share and inspired life. One of the results of their project was Sincerelyalive, the company they started with a mission to participate in hope for the eastern Kentucky region.
Milford Sound, New Zealand