HARRY A. JOHNSON JR.

Watson Fellow

Coming from less than favorable financial circumstances, Harry Johnson made the most of his opportunity to attend Bard College. Over the past four years, Harry has left an impact on hundreds of lives both on Bard’s campus and throughout the mid-Hudson Valley. As a full-time student and member of Bard’s Men's basketball team, Harry cofounded Brothers at Bard, a character development and academic enrichment program for young men of color at Kingston High School, with fellow student Dariel Vasquez. Harry’s passion for community outreach and love for the game of basketball pushed him to commit a large portion of his collegiate career to using basketball as a vehicle to promote higher education among high school and middle school students in Bard surrounding communities. Johnson was an integral part of the success of the sports-based youth development program, Dream to Achieve Basketball (DTA), which served students from low-income backgrounds in the Hudson, NY area. After playing multiple roles in the DTA program (i.e. coach, mentor, and camp director),  Johnson took over as the acting director during his junior year. DTA’s year round programs included after-school clinics, tutoring, a two-week summer camp, and 3 spring travel teams --all of which were completely free of charge to its participants.

In 2016, Johnson was honored as one of ten NCAA basketball players to be named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC)/Allstate Good Works Team. This honor is bestowed onto college athletes, who have made outstanding contributions in the areas of volunteerism and civic involvement. During his senior year, Johnson was awarded the Thomas J. Watson Foundation Fellowship. This prestigious fellowship offers graduating college seniors of “unusual promise” the opportunity to engage in one year of independent exploration and travel outside the United States. Over the next year, Johnson will seek to expand his capacity to serve a wide range of communities by exploring the ways in which different historical, cultural and socioeconomic contexts have fostered innovative ways to use sports as a vehicle to enact change and create opportunity. He is especially interested in how these varying contexts have influenced the ways in which professional sports leagues and teams (e.g. Premier League, National Rugby League) both engage with and use their resources to better their surrounding communities. Starting August 1st, Johnson will travel to India, Australia, South Africa and the Dominican Republic, but his itinerary is subject to change. Johnson believes basketball has had an invaluable effect on his life and seeks to continue using sports as a vehicle to change the lives of others long after his time at Bard. This fellowship will be the first step in his journey.