Union sophomore named top student in Oxford summer program

JACKSON, Tenn. — Union University sophomore Vivien White has received the SCIO Alumni Prize, awarded to the top-performing student in the 2026 summer program at Scholarship and Christianity in Oxford.

White, a public relations major from Indio, California, spent about five weeks in Oxford, England, this summer studying creative writing and C.S. Lewis.

“There is something about being in another country that is so magical, but also very overwhelming,” White said. “And then when you add studying and grades on top of it, it can just be a lot.”

But White said she settled in quickly, got used to her new surroundings and loved her experience.

Stan Rosenberg, SCIO’s executive director, announced the award in a letter to Union Provost Jacob Shatzer.

“Vivien was a very welcome addition to the semester, showing outstanding application and ability,” Rosenberg wrote.

SCIO is a research and educational institute in Oxford that offers semester and summer undergraduate programs. The Alumni Prize recognizes academic performance over the full summer term.

The program follows the Oxford tutorial model. Class sessions were built around discussion instead of lectures, and about every two weeks White had a research paper of 2,000 to 3,000 words due. She then met one-on-one with her tutor, read the essay aloud and discussed it. One of those sessions lasted almost three hours.

“I would walk into the city every day and study in the libraries and in coffee shops,” White said.

White said her background in speech and debate taught her to build an argument and write a paper quickly. Her second Lewis essay, on “Till We Have Faces,” required something different. Partway through her research, she changed her mind about the question she had chosen and started over with a new thesis and outline.

“I still remember making that choice, because I was very tempted not to,” White said. “But I cared so much about it.”

The experience also built her confidence, she said. Students in the program live about a 45-minute walk from the center of Oxford, and once classes began, White often made the trip alone. She toured the city, visited the Ashmolean Museum and attended church by herself, and she and a friend took the train to Windsor Castle on the Fourth of July. She also visited Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral on a field trip with her fellow students.