Hunter College congratulates freshman Jady Chen MHC ’27 for winning a prestigious Jeannette K. Watson Fellowship.
The highly selective fellowship chooses among freshmen and sophomores at New York City colleges with strong academic records but also proven leadership skills and a demonstrated commitment to the common good.
Chen, a Brooklyn resident and graduate of Stuyvesant High School, is majoring in Urban Studies because of her interest in city design, urban health disparities, and the social norms of New Yorkers. She interns at the New York City Economic Development Corporation, where she works to increase opportunities for minority and women-owned businesses across the city. She also mentors Asian American high-school students through a nonprofit organization, ASPIRE, to strengthen leadership skills and cultural identity.
“I am excited and honored for this opportunity to nurture my academic passions and personal growth,” Chen said.” I am very thankful to everyone at Hunter who has supported me through this process.”
Sponsored by the Jeannette K. Watson Foundation, the three-year Watson Fellowship includes paid summer internships at nonprofits and government agencies, career-planning mentors and seminars, and free entry to major cultural events.
Past Watson Fellows have gone on to top graduate programs and vanguard roles in their professions — for example, 2019 Watson Fellow Devashish (Dave) Basnet ’22, who won a Rhodes Scholarship for study at Oxford University.
Chen is the 18th Hunter student to win the Watson Fellowship since 2016–17 and the 32nd to win since the fellowship’s inception in 1999.
Hunter’s Office of Prestigious Scholarships and Fellowships has a stellar track record in preparing students for many different kinds of competitive scholarships and fellowships. In recent years, the college has produced two Rhodes, two Marshall, six Schwarzman, five Luce, seven Goldwater, and 39 Fulbright Scholars among many other prestigious awardees.
