Watson Scholarship

Watson Scholarship

Ever since his senior year of high school, Jonathan Borck ’00 has been intrigued by theater. That was when he starred as Tony in his Pennsylvania high school’s production of "West Side Story."

Now, Borck, who obtained a degree in civil engineering and environmental science and engineering, will study American theater at its roots through a Thomas J. Watson Foundation fellowship.

The fellowship provides for a one-year grant for qualifying graduating seniors to study abroad. Borck will use the fellowship to study theater in Great Britain. He will explore several aspects of the history of British theater, from pagan rituals through modern West End musicals. His travels will take him to points throughout England, including London, Cornwall, York, Oxford and Edinburgh. He intends to learn as an audience member as well as through up-close backstage observations and interviews. Borck hopes that he may even be allowed to volunteer in production.

He is looking forward most to the adventure of traveling and living abroad. " I’ve done lots of traveling in my life, but I’ve never gone overseas. The Watson Foundation has given me this oppotunity, but the approach is laissez-faire. In other words, I am responsible for finding housing, food, transportation and all other aspects of living. So, in pursuit of my dream, I’m plunged into a completely new area and must fend for myself. I can’t wait."

At Rice, Borck was involved in theater at Lovett College, including performances in "Little Shop of Horrors" "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and serving as director of "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" and "Chess."

Of his passion, he said, "Theater has a special power to make people laugh and cry, to mourn and rejoice. To entertain people–to help them escape from their own lives and enter a new world, if only temporarily–is a noble and gratifying endeavor."

After his one-year study abroad, Borck plans to pursue a doctorate in environmental engineering and hopes to one day work in that field or in public policy at the university level.