I Have Been Awarded a Fellowship… Now What?
Congratulations on your successful application to the Fellowship Program.
First things first!
Please read your award letter carefully. Fellowship requirements are specific to the funder who is supporting you, and may be different than a previous fellowship or a friend’s. If you have any questions about the fellowship and or/ requirements, please contact the program coordinator noted in your letter.
Once you have read the letter and asked any questions you may have, please sign and return the letter of agreement, along with the volunteer forms listed below, immediately. If your coordinator does not hear from you by the deadline on your award letter, the opportunity will be awarded to another applicant. Delay in sending back the agreement, especially if you intend to decline, makes other eager and available applicants wait unnecessarily.
Every participant on an Earthwatch Expedition must fill out the appropriate volunteer forms. All forms can be found at http://www.earthwatch.org/volunteerforms.
Forms include:
Earthwatch Participation Form: Adults
Earthwatch Participation Form: Teens
Earthwatch Participation Form: Scuba
Travel Form
While the Participation Form will require a physician’s signature, and you will not have your travel plans booked just yet, you can fill out the majority of the forms on your own. Please send the parts you are able to complete in with your award agreement.
The letter of agreement and applicable forms can be sent via email or faxed (978-450-1288) to the attention of your coordinator. If you choose to mail your forms in, please call your coordinator as well so that he/she may get a head start preparing any details for you.
To Do List:
- Send in award agreement and portions of Earthwatch Participation Form that can be filled out. If you have scheduled a doctor's appointment, please list the date of the appointment so that we will know when to expect that section of your form.
- Make an appointment with your doctor - appointments can be hard to get last minute, call your doctor’s office today!
- Begin making travel plans- When it comes to booking travel- the sooner, the better. As you will read in your expedition briefing- it is imperative that you meet the team at the scheduled rendezvous and early departures cannot be accommodated. Booking early will give you the best options.
- Read your fellowship guidelines and expedition briefing COVER TO COVER (You should receive these materials in the mail about a week after the award email). Online versions of all briefings can be found on Earthwatch.org - simply search for the expedition title - briefing will be on the right side bar. The online version, and the one you will receive in the mail are quite similar - but your hard copy will contain more detailed information about travel and include the most up to date material. PDF version of fellowship guidelines
- Educators are encouraged to review the blogs created by our past fellows.
Please contact your fellowship coordinator with any questions you may have about your fellowship and expedition! Congratulation again, and happy planning!