Six students from Western Washington University's Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies have been awarded the David T. Mason Adventure Learning Grant, a $25,000 stipend designed to fund transformative study abroad experiences. Each recipient proposed a project centered on extended engagement with cultures outside the United States, and all six will spend 10 months abroad beginning this fall.
Fairhaven College, which is part of Western Washington University in Bellingham, operates as a semi-autonomous college within WWU focused on interdisciplinary, inquiry-based learning. Students design their own programs of study in collaboration with faculty advisors, making it a particularly fitting home for a grant like the Adventure Learning award, which asks students to use real-world experience as the core of their education rather than relying solely on classroom instruction.
The 2026 grant recipients and their proposed projects span an ambitious range of themes and destinations. Syd Carver will travel to Bolivia and Peru to study "Practicing Alternatives to Extractivism." Rowan Casselman heads to Ecuador, Panama, and Uruguay to research "Eco-ableism and Land Conservation." Theo Davis will explore "Learning Beyond the West: A Cross-Cultural Exploration of Alternative Education in East Asia" across Japan and South Korea. Mae Eifert will travel to Ecuador and Peru for "Listening Across Borders: Women's Lived Experiences of Maternal Health." Sky Grumbles goes to Colombia and Chile to work on "Understanding and Building Community Resilience Through Food Sovereignty." Georgia Marere will travel to French Polynesia, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu to study "Indigenous Culture and Sovereignty in Oceania: Preservation and Revitalization in Relation to French Colonialism."
Peter Pihos, dean of Fairhaven College, described the grant as central to what Fairhaven is trying to do as an institution. "The Adventure Learning Grant reflects Fairhaven College's commitment to transformative, inquiry-based learning. It provides students with an unmatched opportunity to use the world as their classroom," Pihos said. The grant is named for David T. Mason, a figure whose legacy continues to support Fairhaven students through this annual award.
The projects reflect topics that have particular resonance for students at a Pacific Northwest institution. Several are focused on environmental issues, including ocean and land conservation, food sovereignty, and the intersections of ecology and disability justice. Others center on colonial legacies and Indigenous rights, areas where Bellingham and Whatcom County have their own layered local history, including ongoing work by the Lummi Nation and Nooksack Tribe on sovereignty and treaty rights issues closer to home.
Students awarded the grant are expected to integrate their abroad experiences back into their studies at Fairhaven upon return. The grant's design reflects Fairhaven's broader educational philosophy: that encountering genuine intellectual risk and challenge in unfamiliar settings accelerates learning in ways that structured coursework alone cannot replicate.
Western Washington University, located on the Bellingham waterfront and hillside at the northern edge of the city, is one of the region's largest employers and a central part of Bellingham's civic and cultural identity. WWU enrolls approximately 16,000 students and maintains a strong research presence through departments ranging from environmental science to the arts. For more on recent WWU research with local implications, a new study from WWU on Dungeness crab resilience highlights work being done at the university's marine research center in Anacortes.
More information about the Fairhaven College Adventure Learning Grant, including how future students can apply, is available through the Fairhaven College website.
