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Whistler student scoops Watson award to travel world

Lindsay MacKenzie one of 50 students to be honoured

A young Whistlerite, and former Pique Newsmagazine intern, will be travelling the world for a year after receiving a prestigious Watson Fellowship.

Lindsay MacKenzie, a senior at Colgate University in New York State, was one of 50 undergraduates from American liberal arts colleges and universities to receive the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship this year.

The grant will allow MacKenzie to spend one year in independent exploration of transboundary protected areas in 18 nations, stretching from Europe to southern Africa and Central and South America.

Transboundary protected areas are places in the world which straddle one or more borders and are dedicated to the protection of biological diversity and cultural resources.

MacKenzie has studied this work before as an intern in Kosovo two years ago where she, along with other Colgate undergraduates, worked to create a Balkan "peace park" on the border between Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo.

"In Kosovo, I was involved in the very early stages of founding a transboundary protected area, which gave me an idea of what their benefits are but also instilled in me a healthy sense of skepticism about them," said MacKenzie. "The Watson is exciting because it will let me travel to already-established areas and see how things play out both positively and negatively for the projects. Plus, there's nothing I'd rather do than travel the world for a year."

The Watson Fellowship was established in honour of Thomas J. Watson, the founder of IBM.