Emory University selected Grace Johnson (21Ox, 23C), Amelia Tamez (24C), Amelia Andujar (24C) and Shreyas Rajagopal (24C) out of a pool of 37 applicants to receive this year’s Robert T. Jones Scholarship. The recipients will study at the University of St Andrews in Scotland for one year.
St Andrews and Emory established the Bobby Jones scholarship in 1976 in honor of the late Robert “Bobby” Jones (29L), who is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and received the Freedom of the City of St Andrews in 1958. Additionally, he co-founded the Masters Tournament.
The Bobby Jones scholarship covers tuition and living costs for students who are of “academic excellence and exemplary character, integrity, and citizenship.” The award is an exchange program, as St Andrews also selects four students who are in their final undergraduate year to study at Emory.
The day before interviewing for the scholarship in February, the 12 finalists attended a cocktail dinner where they introduced themselves to selection committee members, according to Johnson. She explained that the event allowed the finalists to see if they fit into the community of scholars.
“The Bobby Jones scholarship isn't just about the one year you spend at St Andrews,” Johnson said. “It's about joining this community and lifelong connections that you'll make with all of the other Bobby Jones scholars and all the other people that are very invested in Bobby Jones’ legacy.”
Andujar said that the committee’s attitude allowed her to relax during the “daunting” process.
“Everyone in the committee was very sweet and bubbly, almost,” Andujar said. “They were very, very kind instead of being a really intimidating committee.”
Andujar said that knowledge of Jones and St Andrews is an important part of the selection process. She said it is important to go “beyond just why you want to study.”
“I found a really great book about his life, sat down there for a few hours, kind of focused on tailoring what I had said to what he believed in,” Andujar said.
Rajagopal said it was important to build a narrative throughout the application process.
“It makes your message and your persona a lot more solidified,” Rajagopal said. “If you have a good understanding of who you are, then that will inevitably be better communicated in your essays and your application, as well as during your interviews.”
Tamez credited the Bobby Jones scholarship for allowing her to continue to graduate school, which she said would not have been possible otherwise. She will pursue a master’s degree in earth and environmental sciences at St Andrews. Tamez said she hopes to learn about geology and sedimentology, which connects with her Emory honors thesis on paleontology.
“It was really important to me to be able to find a community of geologists and to build on the understanding of what I have about paleontology and geology now,” Tamez said.
Rajagopal plans to become a physician and play a role in legislative decisions on health care.
“In D.C., when people are making decisions about healthcare mergers, for example, or people are having congressional hearings about pharmaceutical companies in the way that they price drugs, I think it's really important to have a voice in those discussions that represents the needs of patients and I hope to be that voice,” Rajagopal said.
To further that goal, Rajagopal will pursue a master’s degree in global social and political thought at St Andrews. He expects his time in Scotland will bolster the knowledge he will bring to his career in health care because his exposure to the Scottish health care system will stand in contrast to his experiences in the United States.
Andujar will also pursue a master’s degree in global social and political thought. In the future, Andujar, who was born in the Dominican Republic, plans on researching and enacting education policy in the Caribbean and Latin America. Following that goal, she will conduct a research project at St Andrews on how digital technologies impact schooling in the region.
Additionally, Andujar hopes to take advantage of other opportunities outside of the classroom while in Scotland, such as joining the dance society.
“I would probably be interested in also joining the Hispanic society because at Emory, I've also really liked to be involved in Latinx communities, especially communities of Latinx women,” Andujar said.
At St Andrews, Johnson will work toward a master’s degree in gender studies. She said that at Emory, she “gravitated” toward classes with gender studies components, especially discussing disparities in medical treatment due to gender and sexuality. Johnson also plans to join St Andrews’ touch rugby team. She became interested in the sport during her time studying abroad in South Africa, where she said she found that rugby emphasized values of camaraderie, teamwork and integrity.
Johnson credits Emory’s liberal arts approach to learning for preparing her for this new academic experience.
“Emory really allowed me to diversify and bring in a lot of those humanities and social rights issues into medicine and integrate them into what I want to do now,” Johnson said.
Rajagopal sees a theme of interdisciplinary studies around Emory — Jones himself excelled in the spheres of engineering, law, English and golf.
“Both the Emory community and Bobby Jones sort of carry this vision of intellectual curiosity,” Rajagopal said. “I hope to bring that with me to St Andrews.”
