Grove City College senior Ginger Schiffmayer will continue her academic adventures at Oxford University thanks to a to a highly selective – and very generous – Barry Scholarship.
Schiffmayer will pursue a master’s degree in Late Antique and Byzantine Studies at Oxford to complement the degree in History, with minors in classical and medieval studies, that she will earn from Grove City College this spring.
Oxford is a dream destination for Schiffmayer, whose love of history and vocational goals were inspired by a Hollywood blockbuster featuring a fedora-sporting, whip-cracking archeologist on a quest for the Holy Grail.
“I love Indy,” she said. “I watched ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ as a child and asked for history/geography books that Christmas and never looked back! Of course, real archaeologists don’t usually go in guns blazing, but in my experience, it is a very adventurous profession, filled with unexpected events.”
Earning the scholarship makes a prediction Schiffmayer’s father made when he dropped her off at the College for her freshman year seem almost prophetic. “My dad laid out a hypothetical life plan: ‘Grove City, then Oxford for archaeology, then you can discover Excalibur.’ I guess Excalibur is next up,” she said.
The chance to find King Arthur’s magical sword, raid a lost ark, or brave a temple of doom may be in the future for Schiffmayer, who hopes to attain a Ph.D. and find a position that lets her do research in the field and publish prolifically. In the meantime, she is looking forward to studying the history of the era popularly known as the “dark ages” following the fall of Rome at one of the world’s greatest universities.
Schiffmayer said she takes issue with traditional “late antique slander” from Enlightenment sources who sought to link the rise of Christianity with the collapse of Western civilization during the period. “It is a pivotal time in the formation of Christian institutions and beliefs and ought to be viewed as a time of dynamic transformation, not decline,” she said.
Oxford is the leading school for Schiffmayer’s interests and the program she is eyeing promotes interdisciplinary work in history and archaeology. “Studying there would grant unparalleled access to resources … I cannot wait for all the lectures. I cannot wait to hear guest speakers in other fields as well — so many opportunities to expand my intellectual horizons,” she said.
Schiffmayer, of Evergreen, Colo., is part of Grove City College’s Trustee Scholar program, which provides full tuition and enhanced educational opportunities for standout students. She’s also co-captain of the debate team, editor in chief of Cogitare magazine, executive style editor of the College’s Journal of Law and Public Policy, and co-president of Phi Alpha Theta history honorary.
The Barry Scholarship will cover her educational expenses, along with a stipend and allowances for travel and research. The scholarship is an initiative of the Canterbury Institute, an Oxford-based charity that seeks to rediscover the academic vocation.
The Canterbury Institute said it looks for candidates with a “particular constellation” of qualities, including “ways the nominee pursues truth, demonstrates virtue, is sincere to his/her convictions, is open to change and has the capacity to debate controversial points with sincerity and respect.”
Students cannot apply on their own and must be nominated by a professor in the Institute’s network. Fortunately for Schiffmayer, one of her faculty mentors, Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies Dr. Carl Trueman, is part of that network. Trueman said students from smaller schools like Grove City College are often overlooked for the scholarship.
“This is an amazing achievement for her — she was up against a very severely competitive field,” Trueman said. “Her selection sends a clear signal that the best Grover students are academically worthy to stand side by side with the best from anywhere.”
Trueman and history professors Dr. Mark Graham, Dr. Andrew Mitchell, and Dr. Jason Edwards helped Schiffmayer prepare and hone her application for the scholarship. Their investment of time and concern for a student’s future is typical of Grove City College faculty, she said.
“It’s not an exaggeration to say that every professor whose class I’ve taken here at GCC has been thoughtful, friendly, and extremely dedicated to helping students. The advice that I got with the Barry essays was just a continuation of my experience every day,” Schiffmayer said.