Before Elliot Russell ’26 opened the email that would shape the next year of his life, he made himself wait.
He had just picked up lunch from Shawarma King, his favorite restaurant in Kalamazoo, and was walking between work shifts when the message arrived. Rather than opening it immediately, he carried it unopened to a bench outside Kalamazoo College’s Light Fine Arts building to wait for the best time.
“It was sunny and rainy at the same time,” Russell said. “I had my Shawarma King. I opened the email, and I saw that I got it. It was sort of a cathartic moment.”
The email confirmed that the “it” he received was the Jerry Sherbin Fellowship, a grant that gives a graduating K senior the opportunity to spend up to a year outside the U.S., pursuing a project driven by curiosity, creativity and independent exploration.
Beginning in September, Russell will spend about 10 months traveling through some of the world’s largest cities—including London, Mexico City, São Paulo, Melbourne and potentially Hong Kong—documenting how street musicians and vendors transform public spaces into places of connection.
The young alumnus—who majored in English on K’s nonfiction writing track and concentrated in film and media studies—plans to create a multimedia documentary combining photography, film and audio to explore what he calls the underrepresented folk heroes of urban life.
“I hope the larger project culminates in a film that documents my travels,” Russell said. “But I also want it to illuminate the different ways people try to coexist in city spaces where so many different people are packed closely together.”
A fellowship built on transformative travel
The fellowship was established by alumnus Robert Sherbin ’79 and named in honor of his father, Jerry.
As a K student, Sherbin studied abroad at the University of Nairobi in Kenya, where he was one of just six American undergraduates and the College’s only participant. Later, he received the prestigious Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, spending a year overseas pursuing an independent project before launching a career as an international journalist.
Russell, the fellowship’s fourth recipient, saw an immediate connection between Sherbin’s experience and his own aspirations.
“I remember hearing about the fellowship during its first year when my friends were talking about it,” Russell said. “A big part of why I came to K was because I wanted to spend time in other places. This feels like it will be the perfect continuation of that.”
After receiving the fellowship, Russell met virtually with Sherbin, whose advice reinforced the spirit of the award and Russell’s excitement.
“Bob told me that the fellowship wasn’t just an investment in my project—it was an investment in me, which was really encouraging,” Russell said.
That perspective gives Russell the flexibility to adapt his itinerary as he learns from each destination rather than feeling tied to a rigid research plan.
Russell’s fellowship project brings together most aspects of his K experience. In addition to his academics, he studied away through the New York Arts Program, returned to New York for a summer residency, studied abroad in Strasbourg, France, completed a journalism internship at 102.1 FM WMUK and created a Senior Integrated Project combining photography with genealogical research into his family’s history in San Francisco. Rather than taking a single academic path, Russell said K encouraged him to similarly build connections across disciplines.
“I think being able to approach my studies in an interdisciplinary way is what sparked a project like this,” he said. “I can take an interest that’s rooted in anthropology or sociology and approach it through a fine arts lens while drawing on my work as a journalist.”
He credits the College’s Department of Grants, Fellowship and Research along with Director Jessica Fowle ’00 for their help as he pursued many of those opportunities through institutional grants and the Sherbin Fellowship application.
“Jess has been one of the greatest resources during my time at K,” Russell said. “Getting to go to New York, doing my SIP in San Francisco and applying for this fellowship were all things she helped make possible.”
Sherbin Fellow to find stories in everyday life
Although Russell will visit several continents, he’s interested most in the people who make cities feel alive. They include street performers who fill subway stations with music, vendors who set up in public squares, and people creating community in shared spaces despite cultural, linguistic and economic differences.
He chose the destinations for his application’s proposal because each is a major cosmopolitan city where diverse populations interact every day. Rather than simply documenting performances or marketplaces, he hopes to examine how public spaces foster connection.
“I want to spend time in these places the way the people who live there do,” he said. “I’m trying to learn what I can from those different lifestyles and hopefully bring that back with me.”
Russell knows the experience won’t always be easy or comfortable. He expects language barriers, unfamiliar transit systems and cultures that will challenge many of his assumptions.
“The places on paper versus the places in reality will probably be very different,” he said.
But those challenges excite him. His previous experiences studying and traveling abroad taught him that growth often begins outside of familiar surroundings.
“Every time I’ve been somewhere different, I’ve found it incredibly enlightening,” Russell said. “This project is about intentionally putting myself outside my comfort zone.”
Coming to K as a Kalamazoo native, he initially wondered whether staying close to home would limit his opportunities. Instead, he found a place that continually encouraged him to look beyond what he recognized. And soon, those lessons will accompany him around the world.
“When I think about my K education—the places I’ve gone, the interests I’ve developed, the different things I’ve studied—it feels like this fellowship brings all those seemingly disparate things together,” he said. “I feel like that’s a very liberal arts thing to do.”
