‘Lightning struck twice’: Senior to attend Oxford with Barry Foundation Scholarship

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‘Lightning struck twice’: Senior to attend Oxford with Barry Foundation Scholarship
Senior Nick West will study at Oxford. | Flickr

Senior Nick West became the first Hillsdale student to win the Barry Foundation Scholarship and enroll in Oxford with the scholarship, which grants full funding for its recipients to earn graduate degrees from Oxford. 

“It’s incredible to be able to go to Oxford, completely funded,” West said. “I will be studying one of the applied mathematics programs.” 

The scholarship is for two to three years, and West will pursue two separate master’s programs.


“The program that I will be going into is the masters of science in mathematical modeling and scientific computing,” West said. “I will be researching how to optimize systems or processes with computers where theory alone is insufficient.” 

West said he is undecided with respect to his second masters program. 

“I want to research either in the physics area, such as modeling fluids or gasses, or something societal, like optimizing transportation systems,” West said.

West said he has never been to Europe before and plans to travel while studying at Oxford.

“My friends are planning to come visit me, and then we’ll hopefully travel around Europe when I’m not studying,” West said.

After receiving the Barry Foundation Scholarship, West had to submit a separate application to Oxford.

“Lightning struck twice,” said Director of the Oxford Program and Professor of History Kenneth Calvert.

West’s admittance to Oxford is representative of his success at Hillsdale College, Calvert said.

“Nick has both the classroom skills and research skills necessary for success,” said Professor of Mathematics David Gaebler, one of the faculty members who recommended West for the scholarship. “He’s a somewhat legendary tutor and teaching assistant, and is one of the top mathematics majors that has graduated from this school.”

Gaebler taught West in four math classes, in both the pure and applied fields, and said Oxford should help West prepare for a career in teaching or research. 

“Oxford has a number of mathematical specialty programs for its master’s program,” Gaebler said. 

“Receiving the Barry Foundation Scholarship shows how strong of an applicant Nick is, and he is a great scholar,” Calvert said. “The scholarship is on the same level as the Rhodes and Marshall Foundation Scholarships. We are very happy for Nick.”

West applied by submitting an application to Hillsdale College’s Barry Foundation Scholarship committee, which then recommended his application to President Larry Arnn. From there, Arnn submitted West’s application to the Barry Foundation, which chose him for the scholarship.

“The Barry Foundation is looking for a renaissance man or woman,” Calvert said.

West is hoping to participate in a liberal arts program at Oxford.

“I’m excited about getting involved in the nonprofit at Oxford called the Canterbury Institute,” West said. “They’re a community at Oxford that invites students and scholars to events and retreats, which seems similar to the Collegiate Scholars Program at Hillsdale College.”