SCIO is delighted to announce Hilary Term 2025’s Prize winners. The prizes are awarded to students who demonstrate academic excellence in their research essays, British Culture seminars, or overall academic performance throughout the term (the Alumni prize).
Hilary’s awardees include:
Alumni Prize
- Madeleine Freace
Academic Prizes
- Celeste Chapman
- Jordan Mihut
- Abbie Baker
Prize winners shared a bit about their work and the reasons why they find it important…
- Celeste Chapman (Houston Christian University, TX)
Spending a semester abroad in Oxford was an incredible academic opportunity, in which I grew not only as a student but also as a follower of Christ and a training minister. While in Oxford, I studied the works of Eastern Patristic Church Fathers and St. Augustine for my tutorials and Jane Austen for my British Culture class. Likewise, I conducted my research project on how the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has affected the interpretation of John the Baptist’s baptism in biblical commentaries. My studies in Patristics broadened my knowledge of great figures in the history of Christianity and helped me contextualize my place within the church. Engaging the wisdom of Augustine helped me to understand my own experience of temporary peace and unrest in life as a part of a pilgrimage towards the complete, eternal peace of everlasting life with God. This meditation was personally profound and something that I hope to share as a minister of the gospel.
- Madeline Freace (Covenant College, GA)
Studying and living in Oxford for Hilary Term will forever be one of the most defining experiences of my life. I am not only a better scholar but also a more intentional friend and confident individual because of my time there. Over the course of the semester, I got to study Middle English literature (1350-1550), the development of Detective Fiction, and J.R.R. Tolkien’s worldbuilding, in addition to researching Charles Dickens’ depiction of young women, all while walking the streets of a city as old as the literature I studied. Over twelve weeks, I grew to ask and appreciate hard questions, to value challenging ideas that forced me to consider and elaborate my own, and to love a completely different area of literature than I ever thought I would. I have never learned so much, so deeply, and so enthusiastically as I did in Oxford.
- Jordan Mihut (Bethel University, IN)
During the SCIO program, I studied the Essay in English Literature, Creative Writing, and an aesthetics course called Oxford and the Pursuit of Beauty. For my research project, I did an analysis of George Saunders’ collection of short stories called Pastoralia where I observed the development of the characters through the lens of American Dream capitalism and then contrasted these findings with what moral philosopher Iris Murdoch calls “loving attention.”
This act of interdisciplinary study is what I found most intriguing in my time in Oxford: as I read philosophy and literature in tandem with each other, I often found that literature was like a testing site for philosophy in real time. This is what authors do, and this is the power they wield! They have a playground built from the imagination to test theories, stretch moral limits, and put a reader’s empathy under intense scrutiny. It was exciting to be part of that ongoing conversation around literature and empathy, and to be in a place such as Oxford that encourages the conversation to keep adding new voices.
- Abbie Baker (Southeastern University, FL)
During my time in Oxford, I studied Biomedical Sciences through Physiology and Brain and Behavior courses. Additionally, taking a class on C.S. Lewis and the Classics pushed me out of my comfort zone and rekindled my love for learning as an end in itself. Walking through the city, past its stunning colleges or into the Bodleian libraries, always inspired curiosity and deeper thought. This experience wouldn’t have been the same without the incredible tutors, SCIO faculty, and fellow students who made Oxford a place of growth and connection. I will always cherish this special place.
SCIO wishes the prize winners a very happy and successful future!