Amelia Lehosit Receives ‘Scholarship and Christianity in Oxford’ Award

The King’s College warmly congratulates Amelia Lehosit (English Dec. ’19) on recognition by Scholarship and Christianity in Oxford (SCIO) for her “exceptional academic performance” during the fall 2019 Oxford Scholars’ Semester. Lehosit is one of around 50 students who studied British Culture through SCIO, and one of five students in that cohort awarded a cash prize.

There were four parts to the Oxford Scholars’ Semester. First, Lehosit joined other students from Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) schools for a class on British Culture. She then completed two tutorials, one on Old English Literature and the second on the History of the British Isles. In the tutorials, she met one-on-one with professors to discuss each week’s reading and to receive feedback on her work. For the final component, Research Writing, she produced a paper on the intersection of Old English secular poetry and the Old English conversion narrative. The SCIO award was determined on the basis of Lehosit’s work in the first portion. Directors Dr. Stan Rosenberg and Dr. Elizabeth Baigent said, “Amelia was a very welcome addition to the semester, showing outstanding application and ability.”

Dr. Ethan Campbell, coordinator of the English major, taught several of Lehosit’s classes at King’s and oversaw her senior thesis. He says, “I’m thrilled to see Amelia win this award for her scholarship in Old English language and literature at one of the best medieval studies programs in the world. Amelia is one of the first students to graduate from the English program at The King’s College, which started in 2016, and she has been a wonderful ambassador for the College’s values during her time at Oxford. She has a true passion for great literature and for engaging with the profound questions she finds there.”

Also while at King’s, Lehosit inaugurated a quarterly email newsletter called The Bardly Tidings. The newsletter highlights announcements, events, and writing opportunities of interest to students majoring in English or minoring in Literature. She served as scholar (2017-2018) and Interregnum Associate (2018-2019) for the House of Truth and worked as a faculty assistant to Dr. Steele Brand, assistant professor of history, and to Campbell. This May, she received The King’s College 2020 MCA Academic Excellence Award as a recognition of her collegiate academic achievements.

“A lot of my success has only been because of the professors who put so much time into me,” Lehosit says. She calls the SCIO award “a testament” to how well King’s prepared her for academic challenge and crystallized her preferred area of study. Brand’s Western Civilization I birthed her love for Anglo-Saxon history. This study contextualized the literature she encountered in Campbell’s class on Tolkien’s medieval sources. “I fell in love right then and there with Old English elegies.” Coupled with her research project from Oxford, Lehosit used her King’s senior thesis on an Old English elegy, “The Wanderer,” to apply to graduate school.

In two months, she will head to the University of Washington to earn a Ph.D. in English with a focus on Old English. She was accepted to four graduate programs, including into Penn State, Boston College, and the University of Oregon, but she chose to stay close to her home state of Idaho.

Reflecting on her award from SCIO, Lehosit says, “[It gives] me a lot of confidence right now in this stressful time to know that I, hopefully, have the capability for future academic endeavors.”

King’s students interested in studying abroad in Oxford can apply to the Scholars’ Semester at Oxford, offered during spring, summer, and fall terms. SCIO is the UK subsidiary of the BestSemester program of the CCCU, of which The King’s College is an affiliate institution.