Surf is academic turf for Wheaton's 2006 Watson Fellow

NORTON, Mass.--Polynesia, Australia, Japan, Costa Rica, Brazil and South Africa. These countries are among the world's most prized surfing destinations. In August Wheaton College senior Alexandra Cheney of Santa Monica, Calif., will begin a year of travel to these locations to study the intersection of surf culture and environmental stewardship as a 2006 Watson Fellow.

''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.''

Cheney began surfing the California coast when she was 10 years old, and within two years was an active member of the Surfrider Foundation, a nonprofit environmental organization that works to protect oceans and beaches. At Wheaton the English and Hispanic studies major has been a NEWMAC All Academic Athlete and a Wheaton College Scholar Athlete in swimming, Photography and Film Club vice president, American Cancer Society Relay For Life lead coordinator, and a 10-Minute Play Festival director. Last summer, Cheney covered surfing in the sports department of CBS in Los Angeles.

In her Watson project, Cheney will immerse herself in local cultures to interview and photograph surfers who work to preserve the ocean environment.

''Every surfer has a voice, a story to tell. I hope, through my multimedia approach, to understand both the oral and visual facets of surfers' relationship to water and waves," Cheney said. "I believe my documentary water photography will go beyond the reaches of oral history, capturing the spiritual relationship, living traditions and country-specific techniques of surfers. A single moment, the excitement of gliding down the face of a wave, the fear of physical injury, and the camaraderie of an individual surfer with his/her 'tribe' can best be seen through a photograph. By carrying waterproof camera equipment on board and out into the ocean, I will catch the fleeting and ethereal surfer/water connections.''

The Watson Fellowship is a one-year grant for independent study and travel outside the United States awarded to graduating seniors nominated by participating institutions. Fifty fellows are chosen nationally and awarded $25,000 for their projects. Two members of Wheaton's Class of 2005 are now completing their Watson Fellowships: Tyler Matteson of Epsom, N.H., traveled to the Domincan Republic, England, Brazil, India, France, Morocco and Sweden to study traditional music styles to learn how musicians are responding to the introduction of the drum machine; and Liza Semler of Middlesex, Vt., studied the ways communities cope with the loss of rural traditions and values when dairy farms stop operating in Switzerland, Ireland, Sweden, New Zealand and Canada.