Two fellowship opportunities support selected seniors who are pursuing a Gap Year between Harvard-Westlake and college. Seniors will apply for these fellowships in the spring of senior year, and they will be awarded before graduation.
Michael Brownstein '99 Memorial Gap Year Fellowship
The Michael Brownstein '99 Memorial Gap Year Fellowship Program was established at Harvard-Westlake School in 2008 to perpetuate the spirit and memory of Michael Brownstein '99, whose life was tragically cut short in a June 2007 accident. Michael had a strong humanitarian spirit and sense of social justice. He lived life to the fullest, passionately pursuing life-affirming experiences through extensive travel. The Brownstein Fellowship is awarded to a member(s) of the senior class based upon a proposal for a gap year experience that incorporates both travel and service to others. The award is an amount up to $10,000 to be used toward expenses of the proposed gap year experience. This video describes the creation of the fellowship and how it reflects Michael's life. Applicants are encouraged to watch the video prior to completing the fellowship application.
The Brownstein Fellowship proposal can include experiences such as cultural immersion or academic enrichment in a foreign country combined with service or volunteer work. Examples might include volunteering at a bioreserve associated with a language school in Guatemala; coaching, teaching, and working in an AIDS clinic in Tanzania; building houses worldwide; working a construction internship with a builder/mountaineer in Alaska; or some combination of the above. It does not have to cover one contiguous time period but can be broken up into segments.
Service Year Fellowship
Although President Bill Clinton signed the National and Community Service Trust Act in 1993 creating Americorps, doing a year of service is still not well known nor widely embraced, even within a well-connected and educated community like Harvard-Westlake. In 2015, Harvard‐Westlake took a major step to promote students’ experience in service of others by establishing the Service Year Fellowship. Harvard-Westlake provides support to students who take a year doing service within the United States. The award will be an amount up to $5,000 to be used toward expenses of the proposed service as part of a gap year experience.
Students may apply to both fellowships if their gap year includes experiences that meet the requirements of each. For example, a student whose gap year proposal includes service within the United States followed by an experience abroad could meet the requirements of both fellowships.
Download application packet
NOTE: The application packet is only accessible to those with a Harvard-Westlake email account.
QUESTIONS: Contact Jim Patterson, Director of the Kutler Center.
Recent Brownstein and Service Year Fellows: