SCIO is delighted to announce the de Jager prize winners for the Scholars’ Semester in Oxford fall 2015. The de Jager prizes are funded by a generous donation to SCIO from Geoffrey and Caroline de Jager who have a long standing commitment to encouraging excellence in education and scholarship.
Fall semester 2015 prize winners
These students showed exceptional academic performance in the following aspects of the programme
Two of the students reflect on their time during the programme
My time in Oxford was one of the best experiences of my life. But it was also one of the most difficult. I am beginning to learn that those two often go together. The Oxford environment challenged me academically, emotionally and spiritually in ways that I never thought possible, but I grew as a person more in one semester than ever before. The unique combination of rigorous academics, intentional conversations with tutors and peers, and walks through the many parks all within the beautiful city of Oxford made it an experience unlike any other. In the future, as I look back, I know that I will always view my time in Oxford as integral to my formation as a person, a scholar, and a Christian.
Eric Tuttle
My time with SCIO was personally and academically transformative. I learned so much about the world, and about myself, during my fourteen weeks in Oxford that I consider myself deeply changed by the place, people, and program. I spent many hours in the library, and many hours in coffee shops with my library books. I spent hours talking with housemates about philosophy, theology, literature, and history. I researched and wrote essays that changed the way I see the world. Conversations with tutors and SCIO staff helped me to consider different perspectives and arguments that I had not encountered before. I grew so much and discovered so much, and was so deeply inspired by the incredible intellectuals that I was able to speak with and learn from. I know that I am different for the experience, but it is a difference of addition. I was added to at Oxford. As my friend and fellow scholar Allie Wood put it, we are not so much different, having been at Oxford. Rather, we are more.
Rebecca Wolfe
Photography by Jonathan Kirkpatrick www.zeuxisphotography.com/