Sarah Stark, a freshman English and French double major from Arkadelphia, Ark., has been named a University Scholar by the College Society Advisory Board of Ouachita Baptist University.
To be named a University Scholar, a student must exhibit the highest level of academic achievement with the goal of serving Christ as a scholar in the university community.
Stark is a member of Alpha Chi, participates in campus intramurals, has written for The Signal campus newspaper and coaches the TigerSharks Aquatic Team, a club swim team who practices at OBU.
“I am very excited about being recognized as a Scholar, especially with my unique situation of being chosen as a freshman,” Stark said. “I look forward to the many opportunities it will provide, especially as I get closer to choosing and applying to graduate programs. I would encourage anyone who plans to attend graduate school to find out more about becoming a University Scholar. I’d love to see other freshman and sophomores applying too.”
Students applying to become University Scholars must have at least a 3.5 GPA, a recommendation from a faculty member, and they must craft written statements describing their Christian faith and their interest in pursuing a Ph.D. and teaching at the college level. As a final step in the process, the candidate is interviewed by members of the College Society Advisory Board.
University Scholars from Ouachita have won prestigious fellowships, including a Pew Graduate Fellowship and a Fulbright Fellowship, and they have been accepted at graduate programs at Baylor, Duke, the Eastman School of Music, Emory, Florida, the Medieval Institute at Leeds University, Notre Dame, Oxford, Southern Methodist University, the University of Illinois, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and Yale. Stark joins Andrew Curtis, Laura Harrington, Seth Richardson and Will Smethers as OBU’s other University Scholars on campus this semester.
