SCIO is delighted to announce Summer Term 2024’s prize winners. The prizes are awarded to students who demonstrate overall academic excellence.
The awardees include:
Alumni Prize
- Bethany Hicks (Milligan University)
Academic Prizes
- Seth Bible (Milligan University)
- Trygve Bulthuis (Dordt University)
As we celebrate the achievements of our Summer 2024 prize winners, the prize winners shared a bit about their work and the reasons why they found their time in Oxford to be transformative…
- Bethany Hicks (Milligan University) shares how SCIO gave her a chance to engage with experts in her field:
My courses in Gothic Literature and Jane Austen allowed me to contextualize and compare texts that had long been some of my favorite reads. The critical material I got to read alongside novels inspired my research and pushed me to become not only an Austen or Gothic fan, but also a scholar. The most rewarding part of the program was having my work taken seriously by experts in the field. As a student, there may be nothing so flattering or formative as having a teacher be willing to read your work carefully and sit down with you for a full hour’s discussion about that work. I found myself becoming more willing and able to stake claims, analyze scholarly work, and defend a thesis with every paper I wrote. This could not have been done had my tutors not challenged and supported me as I learned.
- Seth Bible (Milligan University) reflects on how suprising it was to call Oxford “home” in such a short period of time:
The idea of a summer in Oxford, as appealing as that sounds, was still full of trepidation for me. Yet, quickly, I felt more at home than I could ever imagine. The fellow students quickly became a genuine community for me, and I now miss England more than I ever dreamed. The classes I took, Oxford and the Pursuit of Beauty and Contemporary British Culture were an intellectual examination like I’ve never experienced. It was more like grad school work than anything I’ve ever done, and makes me more assured about my future plans. In Oxford and the Pursuit of Beauty, I pushed myself in fields I had not encountered before: architecture and art criticism. I have a fuller sense of a Christian’s various responses and responsibilities towards art than I ever had. Defending an essay about something so subjective like art pushed the limits of my logic and made me a better writer. Contemporary British Culture forced me to reckon with my own American presuppositions about politics and see the roots of political conflict as a universal phenomenon. Writing about the ideology of the Labour Party helped me to see the benefits of having an outsider’s perspective and understand the country I was beginning to call home. Oxford made me a more empathetic friend, rigorous writer, and faithful Christian.
- Trygve Bulthuis (Dordt College) discusses the meaningful connections between scholarship and community:
An experience that will remain with me for the duration of my life, studying at Oxford was fantastic! It was formational in many of life’s most significant areas, namely, faith, intellect, and community. In the case of the first two, I had the opportunity to take two, often overlapping and supporting, courses; Faith and Reason during the British Enlightenment and Intellect and Imagination: the Rational Religion and Theological Stories of C.S. Lewis. I found myself wrestling with the questions that have plagued many great thinkers, such as John Locke, George Berkeley, David Hume, and C.S. Lewis. Oxford, as a place, also offered a sobering remembrance of my ignorance, which propelled my studies further. Turning now to the discussion of “community;” being thrown into a new place with new people taught me a lot about myself and gave me the freedom to explore through dialogue, inside and outside of class, my own ideas while building friendships that will last for years to come.
SCIO wishes the prize winners a very happy and successful future! Your achievements are a testament to your hard work and dedication. We hope you continue to carry forward the values and knowledge gained during your time in Oxford. Come back to visit soon!