Every year, Oxbridge Honors Program junior students at William Jewell College leave the Hill to study abroad. For most of them, this means a year studying at the University of Oxford in England.
Next year, 17 Oxbridge students will be studying at Oxford and one will be studying in Washington D.C. as part of The Fund for American Studies program. The University of Oxford is divided into 38 separate Colleges and six Permanent Private Halls spread throughout the city of Oxford. Students from Jewell will be spread among seven of these colleges including St. Catherine’s College, Hertford College, Lady Margaret Hall (LMH), Mansfield College, Regent’s Park College and St. Peter’s College, in addition to Keble College as a part of the Middlebury-CMRS Oxford Humanities Program. Students studying at Oxford will spend between from one to three terms there.
“I’m looking forward most to the experience of a different culture and meeting a bunch of new people. Also tutorials,” said Shaneann Fross, sophomore Oxbridge Molecular Biology and Applied Critical Thought and Inquiry major who will be studying at St. Catherine’s College.
While there, students will take numerous tutorials. The Oxbridge Program at Jewell uses the tutorial system, so students are prepared for this heavy writing and one-on-one teaching style of education. Many students use this year abroad to study subjects not offered at Jewell.
“In terms of tutorials, I’m really excited to take certain things I can’t take here like Latin American history,” said Emily Hemphill, sophomore Oxbridge History major studying at LMH.
In addition to weekly tutorials, students get to attend lectures and utilize the numerous resources Oxford has to offer in their over 100 libraries and extensive online databases.
“The thing I’m looking forward to most about tutorials is the chance to really dig in deep into subjects that interest me and utilize some of the awesome resources in Oxford,” said Kaityln O’Neal, sophomore Oxbridge Literature and Theory major who will be participating in the Middlebury-CMRS program at Keble College.
While the tutorial aspect of the year abroad at Oxford can be exciting, there is more to studying abroad than just the school work. Many students will use the vacation period between terms to travel around Europe.
“The thing I’m looking forward to most about being there is the chance to travel around England and hopefully Europe and see a bunch of cool, cultural sites,” said O’Neal.
Some students already have their eyes set on places to visit during the break.
“I’m going to go with my family to Italy and France during the winter break and hopefully at some point I make it up to Norway, Sweden, Finland – that’s what I really want to see,” said Jeremy Hofman, sophomore Oxbridge Institutions and Policy major who will be studying at Mansfield College.
For some Oxbridge students, this opportunity will give them a chance to visit places they have learned about in their classes.
“I want see a lot of my favorite historical sites in England, Ireland [and] France,” said Hemphill.
She’s excited to see specific places like Hastings, Stonehenge, Bath and Hadrian’s Wall.
When asked about what he was looking forward to most, Hofman mentioned the unexpected. While a different experience for everyone, this year abroad is sure to be full of the unexpected as students move to a new country and submerge themselves in a different culture and learning environment.
“My answer is things that I don’t expect. It’s hard to say what I’m looking forward to because I feel like those tend to be the coolest things, what you don’t expect,” said Hofman.
Photo courtesy of University of Oxford
