Lauren Ball
Rachel Cawkwell
Blake Mayes
Fiona O'Carroll
Four Emory University seniors—Lauren Ball, Rachel Cawkwell, Blake Mayes and Fiona O'Carroll—are the 2014-2015 recipients of the prestigious Robert T. Jones Scholarship Award for a year of study at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
They will represent Emory as ambassadors to St. Andrews and were selected based on their established records of leadership, academic excellence and interests that can be pursued through the offerings at the venerable Scottish institution.
Widely known as the Bobby Jones Scholarship, the award was established in 1976 and recognizes individuals who will be excellent representatives of Emory at St. Andrews. The late Bobby Jones, an internationally renowned golfer, was an Emory School of Law alumnus remembered by those who knew him as an extraordinary man of rare loyalty, compassion and integrity. The scholars for the competitive award receive full tuition, room, board and a travel stipend for their year of study. In addition, four St. Andrews students are chosen to spend a year at Emory. Bobby Jones Scholars may seek a degree or take courses without seeking a degree.
The 2014-15 Bobby Jones Scholars represent a wide range of academic interests:
Ball, a double major in mathematics and physics and astronomy from Grayson, Ga., plans to complete a conversion to psychology degree at St. Andrews. She entered Emory as a Questbridge Scholar, and has played for Emory's varsity basketball team for three years. Ball has led both the Society for Physics Students and the Emory Astronomy Club, and has served as an athletic and academic coach in the local and international communities. During the summers, she assisted with the Appalachia Service Project and traveled to Dharamsala, India, as part of Emory’s Tibetan Mind/Body Sciences program.
Cawkwell, an English major from Bedford, N.Y., is a Woodruff Scholar, a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, and was named to the 100 Senior Honorary Society. She represented Emory on a four-person slam poetry team in 2011, and received the Academy of American Poets Award in 2012. Cawkwell is completing an undergraduate honors thesis on the representation of charitable works in Victorian novels, and plans to pursue a degree on Victorian Studies at St. Andrews. She has been a leader with the Emory College Tour Guide program, a fellow in the Community Building and Social Change program, and is in her second year as co-director of Volunteer Emory. Cawkwell also is president of the women's ultimate frisbee club team.
Mayes, a religion major with a minor in Community Building and Social Change from Knoxville, Tenn., plans to study systematic and historic theology in St. Mary's College at St. Andrews. A Woodruff Scholar, Mayes helped develop a mentoring program for new Emory Scholars and is a fellow at the Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry, completing his honors thesis on contemporary monastic communities. As a fellow in the Community Building and Social Change program, he worked on strategic planning in south DeKalb County. He co-chaired the Student Visioning Process for University Center Renovations, and advocated for civic engagement programs for Emory students.
O'Carroll, a double major in history and French studies from Seattle, Wash., plans to seek a master's in intellectual history at St. Andrews. She has studied abroad in Paris and at the T.S. Eliot International Summer School in London, leading to her involvement as a CIPA peer advisor helping other students study abroad. A Woodruff Scholar, she has been active with Emory Student Ambassadors and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. The recipient of a SIRE research grant, O’Carroll is completing an undergraduate honors thesis in history on women’s suffrage in the U.S. Progressive era, and is a fellow at the Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry.