If I could go back and do college all over again, I’d give some serious thought to doing it like Alexandra Cheney.  Wheaton College granted her a $25K fellowship to travel to some of the world’s finest surf destinations (Polynesia, Australia, Japan, Costa Rica, Brazil and South Africa).  Her mission is to study the intersection of surf culture and environmental stewardship.

"Surfers feel a unique spiritual tie with water, out of which emerges their fight to protect the oceans,” Cheney explained to the Thomas J. Watson Foundation. ”Without surfers as advocates, many coastlines would succumb to the destruction brought on by commercial shipping, underwater demolition and extractive fishing. By examining wave-riding cultures and defining their component traditions and rituals, I seek to explore how surfers feel their connection with the water and how that bond translates into worldwide oceanic preservation.”

I would be so stoked to do a project like this one.  The fantasticness of the traveling and surfing aside, it’s a great topic for research - one that is often the focus of my own musings.  Really looking forward to seeing what she finds. 

Link