By Kathryna Hoyman · Managing Editor
One of our very own Grovers, Ginger Schiffmayer, is on her way to Oxford University after receiving the esteemed Barry Scholarship.
Schiffmayer, a senior history major at the college, was nominated by Dr. Carl Trueman, professor of Biblical and Theological Studies, for Canterbury Institute’s Barry Scholarship. She will pursue a master’s degree in Late Antique and Byzantine Studies and has expressed interest in a career as an archaeologist or, more recently, a professor.
She emphasized how the influence and intentionality of her professors at the college have spurred her to not only enjoy history but also to recognize its indispensability in education. “So many of our cultural issues are issues with people not knowing the past, and I think history implicates humility,” she shared.
The Barry Scholarship is extremely competitive, and Schiffmayer’s achievement is a testament to her dedication and pursuit of excellence, as well as the devotion of the professors she studied under while at Grove City College.
“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 said in the college press release on Schiffmayer’s accomplishment.
Schiffmayer follows in the footsteps of another student of the college, Kaitlyn Bennet, who attended Oxford with the Barry Scholarship after graduating in 2021. Like Schiffmayer, she was recommended by Trueman, and she went on to earn a Master of Philosophy degree in music performance at Oxford and graduated with distinction.
Bennet shared with Schiffmayer that throughout applying and anticipating her time at Oxford, she frequently prayed Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 1:11 — “And she made a vow, saying, ‘Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.’”
Schiffmayer has thought on this prayer often as she considers her upcoming time at Oxford and the ways she hopes to love the community while living in the United Kingdom.
Her prayers center around God using her for his purposes, praying for him to “open doors for me to get involved with the Oxford community, to communicate my views respectfully in a way that brings what I have to bring as an American homeschooler, but not to be abrasive or unyielding about my cultural perspective, and I want to be humble when they correct me. All of these prayers came out of this really good piece of advice that I got to pray, that if you give this to me, then I will give it to you,” Schiffmayer said.
Schiffmayer grew up in Evergreen, Colo., and expressed nothing but fondness for her hometown, but studying in the U.K., specifically at Oxford, has long been a dream of hers. She has been incredibly invested in the campus at Grove City College as a Trustee, 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 the history honorary. There is no doubt that with Schiffmayer, Oxford University is adding a highly qualified student to its ranks, one who values investment in her neighbors and immediate community in the midst of worldwide pursuits.
