Li Qi, a candidate for May graduation from Hamilton, has been awarded the college's Bristol Fellowship. For his project Qi will study circus troupes in four different countries: France's Circus of the New Stars and The French National Circus School; Russia's Amateur Circus Association and Great Moscow State Circus; Brazil's National Circus and Egypt's Cairo Circus. Qi, a former acrobat in the Fujianese Circus, is a Higher Education Opportunity Program student at Hamilton.
The first part of Qi's study will consider the circus as an on-going attempt at excellence in performing art and daring. He will try to give a broad picture of circus life, seeing how it varies from country to country and focusing especially on the child performers. In the second part of the study Qi will examine the economics of the circus, considering it as a business concern, a means of economic survival for the performers and their families and as a profitable investment for its owners.
The Bristol Fellowship was begun in 1996 as part of a gift to Hamilton College by William M. Bristol, Jr., (Class of 1917). The purpose of the fellowship is to perpetuate Mr. Bristol's spirit and share it with students of the college that was such an important part of this life. Created by his family, the fellowship is designed to encourage Hamilton students to experience the richness of the world by living outside the United States for one year and studying an area of great personal interest. The Fellowship is intended to be highly personal and is open to all interested Hamilton seniors. Proposals are evaluated based on inquisitiveness, a spirit of adventure, depth of personal interest, and openness to other cultures. While not a requirement, proposals are also considered for their sense of family connection.
William Bristol served as a Hamilton trustee, president of the alumnae association, fundraiser and benefactor. He was one of six generations of Bristol family members to attend Hamilton, dating back to the chartering of the college in 1812. Mr. Bristol's great, great grandfather became one of the college's first trustees after helping to found the Hamilton-Oneida Academy, which later became Hamilton College in 1793.
Qi, who has a double major of economics and world politics in East Asia at Hamilton, is president of the International Students Association and also served as president of the Asian Culture Society. In 2002 he was a Levitt Research Fellow, where for his project, he designed and conducted research to develop a database on 1,000 government officials in China with a special emphasis on their educational backgrounds. He was a computer assistant in Hamilton's Writing Center and a member of the Model European Union.
