Walker HigginsWhat many people would call a “pipe dream” has become reality for senior economics major Walker Higgins: as a 2014 Bonderman Travel Fellow, he’ll receive $20,000 and a stipulation that he travel to no fewer than six countries on two continents over eight months. His task will be to engage with cultures, people, and areas of the world with which he is not familiar, creating his own travel itinerary and exploring the world independently.
Ah, the possibilities.
Higgins, a native of Gardnerville, Nevada, has settled on Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe as the focus of his travels. His intended destinations include Sri Lanka, India, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
The Bonderman Travel Fellowship program was created in 1995 through a gift from investment adviser David Bonderman, BA ’63, whose transformative international travel experiences as a young man prompted his support for independent study abroad. The highly competitive application process includes an essay and interview with the selection committee.
In considering his preparedness to undertake such a journey, Higgins said, “I feel as though my background in economics has greatly prepared me for international travel…in the way that it has informed my view of the world. If I’ve learned anything from my economics coursework (don’t worry, I have), it’s that people are just people. We face certain incentives and disincentives throughout our lives that shape our behavior, and we’re all just trying to maximize our happiness.”
Bonderman Fellows may not participate in a program or organization, engage in formal study at a foreign university, conduct research or other academic projects, or travel with an organized group while overseas. Students are expected to approach their journeys with open minds and a willingness to try new things.
Higgins continued, “I would argue that the radical differences between societies and cultures that many of us are told exist simply don’t. During my travels, I want to abandon the notion of a steady job and a house in the suburbs as a measure of success in order to see where others derive happiness and meaning from their lives. I want to figure out what I truly value in life, and if that thing is different from anyone else.”
An honors student active in a variety of campus clubs and volunteer activities – including the UW Film Club, the Husky Traders, the UW Disability Resource Center, and WashPIRG – Higgins is minoring in math while also working as a tutor at UW’s Public Speaking Center and as a grader for the economics department. He is a Berner Scholar, which provides a merit-based full-tuition scholarship, as well as a Byrd Honors Scholar. Under the direction of Professor Levis Kochin, Higgins is working on his honors thesis, “London’s Big Bang: A Case Study of Competitive Deregulation.”
A participant in the economics undergraduate mentorship program, Higgins found great value in gaining and sharing perspective with others. "My favorite part of the mentorship program," he said, "was simply talking with my mentor about his life experiences as well as his educational and career paths. There’s something very enriching about hearing other’s life stories and the circumstances that brought them to where they are.
If I do nothing else but go town to town and listen to the stories of those that I meet, I would consider my travels a success.”