Introducing the 2019-20 Founders Scholarship Winners

The King’s College is pleased to introduce and congratulate Esther Wickham, Quinn Wallace, and Almesha Oldham as winners of the 2019-20 Founders Scholarship competition. Each year, prospective students of The King’s College are invited to compete for one of several full-tuition scholarships.

For the scholarship competition, each contestant prepares a 1200-1500 word essay in response to a prompt that engages with the mission of The King’s College, and then travels to the College to deliver a 4-5 minute presentation based on that essay. Contestants also participate in a team-building activity with fellow contestants to demonstrate leadership potential.

In years past, King’s has awarded four full-tuition Founders scholarships; this year, the College decided to award three full-tuition scholarships and allocate the funds from the fourth more broadly to help students with outstanding financial need.

This year’s prompt asked students to research how New York City has served as a launchpad for someone or something in their personal area of interest. Students were asked to explain the person or movement’s history and describe how this inspires their future at The King’s College, New York City.

Esther Wickham of Moreno Valley, Calif. researched and presented on Mary Louise Booth, a lesser known New-York-based Christian journalist, translator, and magazine editor who lived in the nineteenth century. According to Wickham’s essay, Booth inspired her to pursue a career in journalism in New York City. Wickham wrote, “I am inspired, not only by her profession, but her spiritual pursuits.” Wickham plans to major in Journalism, Culture, and Society. Besides her interest in journalism, Wickham plays the piano, ukulele, and guitar, and is a former Stoa Speech and Debate competitor.

Quinn Wallace hails from Cornelius, N.C., and is active in Young Life and a regular performer in local theater productions. Wallace wrote her essay about Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, wife of Alexander Hamilton and “New York City’s most famous and most cherished widow,” Wallace argued, citing Tilar J. Mazzeo’s Eliza Hamilton. After Alexander Hamilton died, Elizabeth dedicated her life to preserving the legacy of her husband and his contributions to the founding of America. In her paper, Wallace describes Hamilton’s importance this way: “I believe Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton is perhaps the greatest example of someone who used New York City as a launchpad for proclaiming the goodness of the unseen God, preserving the truth of an unheard man, and promoting the cause of countless unwanted children.” Wallace plans on studying Media, Culture and the Arts at King’s and says she looks forward to the ways King’s will strengthen her as a Christian and as a storyteller.

Almesha Oldham of Decatur, Ill., plans to study Business at King’s. Oldham wrote her essay on Praxis, a weeklong summer intensive centered on a Christian vision for culture-shaping through entrepreneurship and innovation. In her essay, Oldham explained that Praxis is working “to raise up leaders who will lead organizations through a redemptive framework that is not just based merely on ethics, but also on biblical principles.” Oldham attended Praxis Academy in 2018 and 2019, where she learned about “doing business and entrepreneurship in a redemptive way that was centered entirely around Christ.” Oldham has felt God revealing to her a passion and vision for starting an organization someday in which she will have the opportunity to “invest in, develop, and raise up” the next generation of entrepreneurs and leaders. Oldham currently serves in a variety of ministries including the Biola Entrepreneurship Society and the Urban Youth Workers Institute.

Assistant Vice President of Admissions Noah Hunter said, “It was a challenge to choose among the 107 participants and we would like to acknowledge the talent and preparation of all of the participants. The great privilege of this scholarship competition is discovering astonishingly gifted young adults: good, brave, and ready students who will bring their best to King’s.”

Read more about the Founders Scholarship and past Founders recipients.