Since August of 2020, a group of dedicated student researchers, under the guidance of Dr. Christopher Wilkins, associate professor and chair of the department of history at William Jewell College, has been researching the history of slavery in relationship to Jewell. The research group that the students and Wilkins created, the Slavery, Memory, and Justice Project (SJMP), had its origins in an introductory history seminar last fall. This semester, Project members mainly convene during the HIS 204: Slavery, Memory, and Justice course that Wilkins teaches. They plan to conduct research for as long as it takes to bring the truth about the College’s relationship with slavery to light. This will ultimately conclude with the group publishing their research – writing a more accurate account of Jewell’s history in the hopes of creating a more inclusive college community. 

As the Slavery, Memory, and Justice Project compiles and verifies their research, The Hilltop Monitor will publish their findings. This is the final installment in a series of investigations into the history of slavery at William Jewell College. 

Over the past month, The Hilltop Monitor has detailed the Slavery, Memory, and Justice Project’s investigation into the founders and early trustees’ ties to slavery more broadly, and introduced their research on Dr. Jewell and Alexander Doniphan. In this final installment of the investigation, the Monitor reviews the society these figures were embedded in and where the Slavery, Memory, and Justice Project endeavors to go next. 

Alexander Doniphan, James T.V. Thompson and other founders and trustees from Clay County were rooted in the society of early Liberty and Clay County. To gain a more comprehensive picture of Jewell’s founding, the Slavery, Memory, and Justice Project continues to investigate Liberty and Clay County’s historical ties to slavery.

Over the course of this research, the SMJP began assembling evidence that reveals the terrible irony in the name of Liberty. Despite a name proclaiming freedom, both Liberty and Clay County broadly supported slavery and economically depended upon it. 

Founded in the 1820s, most of Clay County’s early white settlers originated from the slave states of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. When they traveled westward, they brought the enslaved people they owned with them. According to census records, 10,337 people lived in Clay County by 1850. Roughly 27% of this total population, or 2,742 people, was enslaved. 

Although Missouri was a slave state, Clay County was far above the norm for Missouri in its embrace of slavery. Overall 13% of Missouri’s population was enslaved in 1850 – or 87,442 enslaved people out of a total population of 682,044. Clay County more than doubled the percentage of the enslaved compared to that of the state as a whole. 

Out of 100 total Missouri counties in 1850, only four other counties had a higher percentage of enslaved people relative to the total population than Clay County.

According to the Project, critical to understanding the role of slave labor in Clay County is acknowledging the differences between how the slave system worked in the Deep South relative to Missouri. Geography and climate made the large-scale plantations of the Deep South ill-suited for Missouri. Slavery in Missouri tended to be more diversified and smaller in scale. 

Few Missouri slave owners owned more than twenty enslaved people. For many slaveholding farmers with smaller operations, the slaveholders worked in the fields alongside the people they enslaved. Sometimes these slaveholders supplemented their income by renting out enslaved people to perform domestic labor and construction. 

However, as scholars of slavery note, a difference in the organizational structure of slavery does not mean it was any less central to the economic system of Missouri and Clay County. By the end of the 1850s, Missouri was one of the largest hemp-producing states in the nation, and Clay County was among the foremost hemp-producing counties in the state. Since the cultivation of hemp demanded backbreaking labor, slaveholders almost always assigned this task to enslaved people.  

The wealth the citizens of Clay County received from this forced labor would be pivotal to their ability to persuade the Baptists to locate their college in Liberty, as recounted in the first installment in this series. 

As part of its research, the Slavery, Memory, and Justice Project interrogated one of the common justifications used to excuse slaveholders – that they were products of their time and did not have significant access to opposing viewpoints. 

The researchers on the SMJP uncovered evidence to the contrary of this argument. 

At the state level, hostility by a large majority of white Missourians towards abolitionist arguments clearly illustrated their awareness of these arguments. The General Assembly approved an act in 1837 that prohibited the promulgation of abolitionist doctrines. Violators of the law faced two years in state prison and a potential maximum $1,000 fine. Repeat offenders faced sharply escalating sentences: 20 years in prison for a second offense, and a life sentence for a third offense. One of western Missouri’s most prominent citizens, Clay County’s Alexander Doniphan, advocated publicly for the bill’s passage.

Though no prominent Missouri politician supported the immediate abolition of slavery during the Antebellum period, not all were favorably disposed towards the institution on moral grounds. In the early 1850s, the legendary Senator Thomas Hart Benton – one of Missouri’s most powerful politicians for three decades – criticized slavery. Although he was himself a slaveholder, Benton castigated slavery as an incurable evil. 

Given Benton’s prominence, his moral condemnation received wide coverage across the state. Benton’s public opposition stands in contrast to Dr. Jewell, who is similarly often portrayed as a slaveholder with antislavery sentiments. However, there is no evidence that Jewell ever publicly spoke out against slavery. 

In Clay County, two revealing incidents from the 1840s and 1850s demonstrate that citizens had exposure to alternative views. 

According to T.J. Stiles’s Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War, in the 1840s, two evangelists identified only by their last names Chandler and Love dared to criticize slaveholders in Liberty. Jane Gill, the sister of early Jewell trustee Waltus Watkins,  described Clay Countians as sufficiently “enraged” against this anti-slavery preaching that they “threatened” Love “so that he could not preach there.” Swiftly after this threat, Chandler and Love “fled to a northern state.” 

Clay Countians’ feelings towards abolitionism hardened as the decade progressed. At a public meeting in Liberty concerning the Compromise of 1850, prominent figures and Jewell founders – including Doniphan, James T.V. Thompson and E.M. Samuel – all angrily denounced abolitionists. 

Finally, if there could be any doubt about Clay County’s awareness of abolitionist arguments and pro-slavery tilt, the conflict that became known as Bleeding Kansas silences it.

In 1854, after the Kansas-Nebraska Act determined that the slaveholding status of Kansas would be decided by popular sovereignty, Clay County slaveholders became concerned that a free Kansas would be a disaster for their economic interests and inspire the people they enslaved to attempt more frequent escapes. To prevent that outcome, Clay Countians played a significant role in broader Missourian efforts to ensure Kansas would enter the Union as a slave state. 

Clay Countians, led in part by Doniphan, organized a Pro-Slavery Aid Association dedicated to this outcome. Clay Countians formed part of the wave of Missourians who flooded across the border during voting for the territorial legislature, committing egregious voter fraud in the process. 

At times, the Clay Countians went beyond aid and voter fraud into violence. In December 1855, 100 pro-slavery men from Clay County seized weapons – including a cannon – from the Federal arsenal in Liberty, helped equip a large pro-slavery military force with those weapons and then rode into Kansas to besiege the free-state stronghold of Lawrence. This ‘Wakarusa War’ ended in a negotiated peace arranged by the territorial governor, and Clay Countians returned home, having contributed to efforts to make Kansas a slave state. 

If their actions left any ambiguity regarding the dominant view of white Clay Countians towards slavery, the citizens explicitly articulated their opinion in 1855. Following a mob attack on the Industrial Luminary, an anti-slavery newspaper, by citizens of neighboring Platte County, Clay Countians met to endorse the mob’s actions. At this meeting, an endorsed resolution went so far as to call those holding anti-slavery views traitors that needed to be punished. 

This initial research gathered by the SMJP paints a more complicated narrative regarding the citizens of Clay County than is often presented. It also reveals that William Jewell College was constituted in an environment characterized by staunchly pro-slavery sentiments, even beyond the founders and early trustees. 

For Wilkins and the student researchers of the SMJP, there remains considerably more research to uncover and assemble on the founders and early trustees, faculty and students, and Liberty and Clay County. The parts covered in this investigation only begin to scratch the surface of their ambitions. 

And they don’t plan to stop anytime soon. 

Over the past academic year, the SMJP researchers have invested time into learning best practices from how other colleges and universities have explored their historical ties to slavery. 

One of the best resources established for collaborative knowledge-and-technique sharing is the Universities Studying Slavery consortium established as part of the University of Virginia’s investigation into its historical ties to slavery. Over 70 colleges and universities have joined the consortium. Currently, William Jewell College is not one of them. 

This summer, Wilkins will guide more than a dozen student interns as they contribute to this research by fanning out throughout Missouri to visit county historical societies and archives, as well as continue online research. Several alumni with backgrounds in historical research have also volunteered to join the Project’s work.

Wilkins will continue this research over the next several years, including while on sabbatical this fall. He also plans to offer his HIS 204: Slavery, Memory, and Justice class every spring semester.  

One of the original student researchers, junior political science and history major Hayley Michael, will continue this research through her honors project. Michael will be focusing on Jewell students, faculty and staff between the Antebellum and Reconstruction periods and their ties to slavery. She will defend her honors project in the spring of 2022. 

“In my decade at Jewell, I have never worked with a more dedicated, passionate, idealistic, and impressive group of students,” said Wilkins. 

Wilkins emphasized that the crucial importance of students trained in rigorous historical inquiry is the animating force in this research and generating positive cultural change at Jewell. 

“Since last August, I have focused on helping to create and guide the independent Slavery, Memory, and Justice Project, and recently declined to serve on the administration-created Racial Reconciliation Commission, for two reasons,” said Wilkins. “The first is how the nature of who is doing the work influences whose voices are being heard on how to address this history. The SMJP is student-centered, community-based, and advised by faculty specializing in historical research.  We have done a tremendous amount of work over the past academic year, will collectively decide on when we believe our research is ready to be published and how it should be presented, and work together to advocate for policies that we believe in.”

Wilkins continued to speak on the timeline of the research.

“The second is the timeline of the SMJP’s work: to truly recover the history of slavery’s influence on Jewell will take time, and I expect the research and writing of the 100+ page report on slavery and Jewell will take until mid-2023,” said Wilkins. “That amount of time will be necessary to identify the names of as many of the enslaved people held in bondage by the founders and early trustees as possible, describe the conditions of those enslaved peoples’ lives and investigate the actions of the Jewell community during the Civil War era.”

Wilkins closed the interview by expressing his belief that there is a moral imperative to use our knowledge of slavery’s influence on Jewell’s history to help build a more inclusive college community in the future – a belief that serves as the foundation for all the work done by the Slavery, Memory, and Justice Project.

Since August of 2020, a group of dedicated student researchers, under the guidance of Dr. Christopher Wilkins, associate professor and chair of the department of history at William Jewell College, has been researching the history of slavery in relationship to Jewell. The research group that the students and Wilkins created, the Slavery, Memory, and Justice Project, had its origins in an introductory history seminar last fall. This semester, Project members mainly convene during the HIS 204: Slavery, Memory, and Justice course that Wilkins teaches. They plan to conduct research for as long as it takes to bring the truth about the College’s relationship with slavery to light. This will ultimately conclude with the group publishing their research – writing a more accurate account of Jewell’s history in the hopes of creating a more inclusive college community. 

As the Slavery, Memory, and Justice Project compiles and verifies their research, The Hilltop Monitor will publish their findings. This is the third in a series of investigations into the history of slavery at William Jewell College. 

Dr. William Jewell was deeply committed to higher education and used his influence in civic and political affairs to assist with and lead several educational initiatives. Jewell was a member of the Board of Trustees for Columbia Female Academy, the first school for women west of the Mississippi River. He personally donated $1,800 and assisted with the grassroots fundraising for the location of the University of Missouri in Boone County.

In 1849, William Jewell donated $10,000 worth of land towards founding the first all men’s Baptist institution west of the Mississippi River, further demonstrating his dedication to the pursuit of knowledge. In recognition of Jewell’s gift, Missouri Baptists named the college in his honor. The details of the college founding are covered in greater depth in the first two installments of this investigation.

Jewell’s dedication to higher education, philanthropic ideals, and work as a physician and legislator is well-recorded and commended in a variety of different and easily accessible historical sources. These historical accounts, however, only briefly mention Jewell as a slaveholder – if at all. The accounts that do mention his ties with slavery often discuss it in a way that minimizes the significance of his slaveholding by focusing on the eventual manumission of most of the enslaved people he owned.  

In “Jewell is her name: a history of William Jewell College,” written by Hubert Inman Hester in 1967, there are two brief references to Jewell owning enslaved people. Rather than focusing on the economic benefits Jewell derived as a slaveholder, Hester elects to focus on Jewell’s decision to manumit all of the enslaved people he owned by the time of his death. Hester praises this as evidence of Jewell’s “interest in people.” 

In similar fashion, the most recent history of the College – “Cardinal Is Her Color: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Achievement at William Jewell College,” published in 1999 by William Jewell College – mentions that Jewell freed all the enslaved people he owned upon his death.

In a 2015 Hilltop Monitor article, “Who Was William Jewell,” a student writer continues this narrative and incorrectly describes Jewell as an abolitionist. The article, written with information found in the Charles F. Curry Library archives, notes that though Jewell initially owned enslaved people, he emancipated four of them in 1846 and granted freedom to two in his will.  

These accounts of Jewell as a slaveholder make Jewell seem like a gentle man whose slaveholding was benign and even good. The research done by the Slavery, Memory and Justice Project has discovered that: 

• Jewell owned more enslaved people than the College sources have indicated.
• Jewell did not unequivocally free all the enslaved people he owned.
• Jewell’s actual record regarding slavery is more complicated than current narratives portray, and claims that Dr. Jewell was anti-slavery must be reevaluated. 

The Slavery, Memory, and Justice Project researchers, using Federal census records, determined that Jewell owned 13 enslaved people in 1830, six enslaved people in 1840, and five enslaved people in 1850.

Christian Santiago, sophomore history and political science major, has done significant research in the past year. While visiting the Boone County archives, Santiago uncovered a history of Jewell that is not currently reflected in the accounts of the College and its namesake. 

In his research, Santiago found that Jewell manumitted the enslaved people he owned in his will – except for one: Ellen. Rather than freeing her, Jewell provided that Ellen would remain enslaved, first under the ownership of his sister, and then under the control of his grandson after he reached the age of 21. Jewell did include a provision that Ellen would be freed if his grandson died before turning 21, but any children she had would remain enslaved. 

Glancing around the campus, Jewell’s legacy is ubiquitous. From signs to buildings to student sweatshirts, Jewell’s name has been immortalized. There is no recognition, however, for the individuals owned by Jewell who were an integral part of the financial impact that Jewell had on the school. These enslaved individuals were silenced and, until recently, their names were unknown. 

While there are still more names to track down, the Slavery, Memory, and Justice project has identified the names of seven of the individuals held in slavery by Jewell. 

Ellen, Emanuel, Henry, Mandy, Phillis, Ralph and Stephen. 

Jewell was also the president of the Missouri Colonization Society – a branch of the African Colonization Society.

In an article from the Missouri Historical Review titled “Persistency of Colonization” by Donnie D. Bellamy, the racist roots of the American Colonization Society are revealed. This group wanted to remove free Black people from the United States and resettle them in Africa. 

While this group has been referenced as an anti-slavery organization, Bellamy’s article explains that some members of the American Colonization Society saw the organization as pro-slavery, as the removal of free Black people from the country would strengthen slavery. Many African Americans were highly critical of the organization due to the nearly all-white composition of its leadership, the support it garnered from some slaveholders and its denial of free African Americans’ right to stay in the country they played such an integral role in building. 

Jewell’s history is a complex one. His dedication to education and the community is clear and is worth recognition. His eventual emancipation of most of the enslaved people he owned is also significant. 

However, as Santiago explains, this does not erase his status as a man who benefited from the institution of slavery for decades. 

“Even if you choose to view his actions with his slave Ellen or his involvement with the African Colonization Society as some sort of justifiable paternalism, the fact remains that he was aware of abolitionist and other anti-slavery narratives of his time but still actively played into our chattel slavery system,” said Santiago. 

The narrative that the College has of Jewell is incomplete. Jewell’s status as a slaveholder and the complexity of his actions regarding slavery have not been accurately reflected in our history. This abridged history of Jewell is what the Slavery, Memory and Justice Project is dedicated to addressing. 

Santiago addresses the urgency of continuing this research. 

“As members of this community, we inherit the namesake of William Jewell as our own and must choose whether to reject it, ignore it or do something meaningful about it,” said Santiago. “I choose to believe that significant progress can only be made through this final option. Especially as an institution that prides itself on an emphasis on critical thought and inquiry, it would be ignorant of us to subscribe to certain symbols and the legacy of certain individuals if we could not rationalize why we do so. ” 

Jewell and his legacy are intrinsically tied to the school – in more than just a name. As Santiago explains, our legacy is bound to Jewell’s. If we claim to uphold the mission of our school, Jewell’s past with slavery needs to be confronted. 

William Jewell College hosted its annual Celebration of Honors ceremony on April 23. The hybrid event was held in Gano Chapel with a limited number of attendees spaced out in the auditorium – to comply with COVID-19 restrictions –  and all other attendees watching the event via Zoom. This was the first celebratory event held in Gano Chapel since Jewell introduced COVID-19 safety guidelines last year. 

The Celebration of Honors, held the same day as Duke Colloquium, is a chance for the College to honor student achievement, which includes the presentation of the prestigious Faculty Award. 

The 2021 Faculty Award winner is Jackson Still, economics and political science major from Lubbock, Texas. Still is a member of the Cardinal golf team and Mortar Board. During his time at Jewell, Still co-founded the Cardinal Union and served as its president. He also served in leadership roles in Phi Gamma Delta, College Union Activities, and Student Senate. After graduation, he will be an academic intern at The Fund for American Studies Program in Washington, D.C., while attending George Mason University. 

Still credits this award to “the men of Phi Gamma Delta here at Jewell and all they have done to push me to become the man I am today,” as well as his professors for their dedication. According to Still, “acceptance of the Faculty Award is a testament to the exceptional community that we have at Jewell more than it is a recognition of any individual achievement.” 

The complete list of departmental and student awards is as follows.

Awards in Biology:

Dr. Burdette L. Wagenknecht Award for an outstanding first-year biology major – Alexis Harper

Charles F. J. Newlon Award for an outstanding sophomore biology major – Rachel Reaves 

Monte Harmon Award for an outstanding junior biology major – Mason Alexander

Dr. Judith A. Dilts Award for an outstanding junior biology major – William White

Dr. Burnell Landers Award for an outstanding senior biology major – Caleb Houghton

Awards in Business and Leadership:

Hastings L. Schies Memorial Scholarship for a deserving junior or senior female student majoring in business administration or finance who has demonstrated outstanding academic achievement – Felecia Cummons

Walter J. Stark Award for development in business studies – Anthony Hansen

John W. Boatwright Scholar to a student majoring in economics – Jayme Coon

Boatwright Economics Leadership Scholar to a student majoring in economics – Noah Mayo

Otis and Florence Miller Academic Award for the senior graduating with the highest GPA in accounting, business or economics – Malorie Colby

Accounting Faculty Award for outstanding seniors in accounting – Malorie Colby, Garrett Peoples, Grant Peoples

Business Faculty Award for the outstanding senior in business administration – Zachary Bayless

Economics Faculty Award for the outstanding senior in economics – Carter Olsen

E. Anne Earnest Nonprofit Leadership Award for the outstanding senior in nonprofit leadership – Kylee Newton

Awards in Chemistry and Biochemistry:

Outstanding First-Year in Chemistry or Biochemistry – Jorey Luebbert, Kyla Schulte, Carly Thacker

Promising First-year in Chemistry or Biochemistry – Alyssa Hash, Ethan Nichols, Traeten Thorell

James R. Eaton Memorial Scholarship for achievement as a chemistry major – Hailee Brushwood, Cecelia Rogers

Frank H. Fristoe Scholarship for achievement in chemistry – Eli Engledow, Megan Hall, Megan Rohrer, Rachel Schon, Hannah Sherman

Outstanding Seniors in Chemistry or Biochemistry – Catherine Cogley, Cara Kingman

Awards in Communication and Theatre:

Austin Cooper Edwards Acting Awards – Isaac Chizhik, Jaimeson Satterfield

Virginia D. Rice Award for excellence in theatre throughout the year – Sequoia Crissman

Kim Harris Golden Hammer Award for Excellence in Technical Theatre – Garrett Washington

Alpha Psi Omega Key Award for four years of service to Jewell Theatre Company – Sequoia Crissman

Richard L. Harriman Theatre Scholarship established in 1994 by the Fine Arts Guild for outstanding theatre students – Faith Harris, Morgan Tuttle

Digital Media Communication Outstanding Senior Award – Bryar Buhlig

The Department of Communication and Theatre Award for Internship Excellence – Michaela Esau

The Murphy Award for Excellence to a senior communication major planning a career in law – Madeline Wingert

The Kim and Lois Anne Harris Department of Communication and Theatre Outstanding Senior Award – Lydia Enge, Madeline Wingert

Awards in Education:

Chad Garrison “Reach Out and Touch Someone” Award to an education major who has demonstrated sensitivity and compassion for others through volunteer service – Tyler Heston

Lutie Chiles Elementary Education Award to an outstanding sophomore in elementary education – Charlene Noble

Ida Coffman Education Award to an outstanding junior in elementary education – Brady O’Donnell

Elementary Student Teacher Award – Grace Haug, Sydney Offield

Secondary Student Teacher Award – Rey Camareno, Tanner Vance

Outstanding Seniors in Elementary Education – Lillian Frevert, Carman Stephenson

Outstanding Senior in Secondary Education – Rachel Harris

Awards in Engineering:

Outstanding Senior in Civil Engineering – Shane Lang

Awards in English:

Pinkerton-Rick Scholarship to English majors entering the senior year who have contributed to the English department through creative thinking and helpfulness – Emma Mayfield, Tyler Sherman 

Outstanding Senior English Major Award – James Hobbs

Award in History:

Kenneth Chatlos Award for best capstone essays in the Department of History – Kaitlyn Harken, James Hobbs

U. R. Pugh Memorial Scholarship for achievement as a history major – Hayley Michael

Awards in Languages:

Spanish Research Award for scholarly achievement in literary and cultural study – Kelsey Lanterman

Outstanding Senior in Spanish to a graduating major with a record of excellence – Carter Olsen

Awards in Mathematics and Data Science:

George A. Ross Mathematics Award to a senior mathematics major with the highest academic record in mathematics – Connor Morehouse

Awards in Music:

Ida and Maybelle Glenn Music Scholarship for outstanding achievement to someone preparing to teach music – Dre’Shon Tolbert

Edward Lakin Music Theory Award to the student with the highest GPA in the first year of music theory courses – Daniel Samsel 

Linda L. Thomssen String Award for an outstanding string player – Kathleen Wilcock

The Wes & Ginger Forbis Award for a rising senior in music – Laurence Dahlsten

The Collegiate Artists Competition, the winner of this annual competition performs a solo with the Liberty Symphony Orchestra – Laurence Dahlsten

Awards in Nursing:

Awards for Integrity – A’Leiya Clark (BSN), Jennifer Hutton (BSN-AT)

Awards for Compassion – Abigail Rand (BSN), Traci Fleming (BSN-AT)

Awards for Scholarship – Meredith Scarborough (BSN), Alice Kirsch (BSN-AT)

Anne Bax Ozbolt Awards for Servant Leadership – Halie Juarez (BSN), Bailey Brockley (BSN-AT)

Awards for Excellence in Practice – Cutter Sanders (BSN), Gabrielle Miranda (BSN-AT)

Mary Grant Seacole Awards for Service – Cody Lampe (BSN), Marissa Dillon (BSN-AT)

Outstanding Academic Achievement Award – Kaitlyn Pohl (BSN), Mona Akbarnia (BSN-AT)

Outstanding Nursing Student Award – Annemarie Boeh (BSN), Manuel Arciniega (BSN-AT)

Leesa A. McBroom Spirit of Nursing Book Award – Anjeli Ravi (BSN-AT)

Awards in Physics:

The Charles Don Geilker Feynman Lectures Award to an outstanding first-year physics student – Ellesa Henning

James R. Eaton Memorial Scholarships for achievement as sophomore or junior physics major – Graham Chambers-Wall

C. D. Geilker Award for achievement in the general physics course for a student majoring in physics, physics education or dual-degree engineering – Hope Peck

John E. Davis Sigma Pi Sigma Award for a senior physics major with the highest level of achievement in physics – Graham Chambers-Wall

Outstanding Senior Physics Major Award – Catherine Dema

Awards in Political Science:

Outstanding First-Year Students in Political Science – Jacqueline Hensley, Hattie Miller

Outstanding Sophomore in Political Science – Christian Santiago

Outstanding Juniors in Political Science – Zachary Mertes, Hayley Michael, Madalyn Newton

Outstanding Senior in Political Science – Madison Carroll Porth

Dr. Will Adams Scholarship for an outstanding political science major – Kyler Schardein

Pi Sigma Alpha – Matthew Oliver Senior Scholar Award – Jackson Still

Awards in Psychological Science:

Distinguished Graduates in Psychological Science – Addisyn Cress, Rhyann Fisher, Hannah Koehler

Premier Graduate in Psychological Science – Kole Wagener

Student Publications Awards:

The Hilltop Monitor Newcomer Award – Zachary Dube, Krista Halstead, Elizabeth Payton

The Hilltop Monitor Community Outreach and Engagement Award – Samantha Bahler

The Hilltop Monitor Editorial Leadership Award – Trenton Brink, Catherine Dema, Agatha Gutierrez, Savannah Hawley, Christina Kirk, Hannah Koehler, Kyler Schardein, Kari Tott

Inscape Poem of the Year – Michaela Esau

Inscape Fiction of the Year – Jenna Hultgren

Inscape Creative Nonfiction of the Year – James Hobbs

Inscape Fine Art of the Year for Visual Art, Digital Art or Music – Kenton Fox-Horst

The John and Mary Pritchard Humanitarian Service Awards:

The Award annually goes to one or more William Jewell students who commit to engaging with people in need, developing relationships with people different from them in all fundamental aspects and learning about their unique gifts and about what God calls them to do with those gifts.

Noah Mayo

Mortar Board:

A national honor society demonstrating ideals of leadership, scholarship and service. Members are selected through an application process and must the meet ideals of the society and have a GPA in the top 35% of their junior class.

Kayla Burdette, Catherine Cogley, Malorie Colby, Christopher Cotton, Addisyn Cress, Catherine Dema, Elizabeth Ellis, Tori Farr, Brianna Francis, Lillian Frevert, Rose Galetti, Tyrell Jeffries, Cara Kingman, Christina Kirk, Hannah Koehler, Chance Lister, Kylee Newton, Caitlin Overmeyer, Kaitlyn Popejoy, Madison Carroll Porth, Elizabeth Quinn, Allison Rawls, Teagen Rich, Megan Sprague, Jessica Steinbach, Carman Stephenson, Jackson Still, Alexander Thiessen and Macyn Wilbers

Phi Epsilon Honor Society:

Students graduating in the 10% of the class based on institutional GPA and a minimum of 60 credit hours at William Jewell College.

Lacey Albers, Catherine Cogley, Malorie Colby, Elizabeth Ellis, Lillian Frevert, Kaitlyn Harken, James Hobbs, Thomas Hollinberger, Cara Kingman, Hannah Koehler, Kelsey Lanterman, Garrett Peoples, Grant Peoples, Kaitlyn Pohl and Victoria Vogt

Graduating with Honors:

Graduation with Honors is awarded to students who completed a project within their declared major and Graduation with Distinction is awarded to students who completed a project in a subject outside of their declared major. Eligible students must graduate with a minimum GPA of 3.5 and must have completed A-level work on a project over two or more semesters.

With Distinction in Chemistry – Kaitlyn Popejoy

With Distinction in Philosophy – Madison Carroll Porth

With Honors in Education – Lillian Frevert, Carman Stephenson

With Honors in Oxbridge History of Ideas – Catherine Dema

With Honors in Oxbridge Institutions and Policy – Madison Carroll Porth

WIth Honors in Physics – Catherine Dema

Graduating in the Oxbridge Honors Program:

Isaac Chizhik, Catherine Dema, Savannah Hawley, Christina Kirk, Caitlin Overmeyer, Madison Carroll Porth, Jacob Shutts and Nathan Wasson

William Jewell College’s annual David Nelson Duke Colloquium will be held April 23 on Zoom. A Jewell tradition, Colloquium Day is devoted to the scholarly and creative works of students who work with faculty advisors for an extended period of time in order to research and prepare for the day’s presentations. 

Jewell canceled last year’s Colloquium Day due to the pandemic. While the College considered doing virtual presentations, there was not enough student interest at the time. However, this year, 28 students from a variety of majors have prepared 22 presentations. Following the morning session, participating students will hold virtual poster presentations of over 15 different topics.

The first two sessions will begin at 8:30 a.m and the third and fourth sessions at 10 a.m. At 11 a.m. keynote speaker Dr. Kirk McCullough, a 2001 Jewell allum and orthopedic surgeon, will round out the morning sessions. At 1 p.m the final three sessions will begin.  The poster presentations will begin at 3 p.m., finishing out the day.

Presentations for this years Colloquium Day include, “The Efficacy of the Head Start Program on School Readiness” by Lillian Frevert, senior elementary education and ACT-IN major; “The Consequences of a Failed Reconciliation” by Jack Still, senior economics and political science major; and “Relationship of Atrial Fibrillation and Cognitive Decline” by Alycia Shepherd, sophomore nursing major. 

The final oral presentation of the day, beginning at 2 p.m., will be “Slavery, Memory, and Justice at William Jewell College,” in which a research group made up in part by Dr. Christopher Wilkins’ HIS 204: Slavery, Memory, and Justice students will outline their recent discoveries concerning Jewell’s founders’ slaveholding past. 

Poster presentations will also cover a variety of topics, including Angela Lenhartd’s, senior nursing student, “Importance of Early Diagnosis in Turner Syndrome Patients” and Christina Kirk, senior Oxbridge institutions and policy and international relations major, “The Role of Quantum Dots in Detecting and Treating SARS-CoV-2.” 

To allow students adequate time to present and attend, all Friday classes were moved to the day before. Since this year’s Colloquium is virtual, anyone from the Jewell community and beyond can attend. 
The full event schedule, Zoom links, presentation details and other information can be found on Jewell’s website.