Recent Wheaton College Graduate Awarded SCIO Academic Prize
Mariah Sray ’26 was awarded a prize for academic excellence in the Fall 2025 semester at Scholarship & Christianity in Oxford (SCIO) in Oxford, United Kingdom.
Mariah Sray ’26 received an academic prize in late May for her exceptional academic performance at SCIO, a research and educational institute and the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities’ UK subsidiary. SCIO offers two study abroad programs for undergraduates, one during the summer and the other during the fall and spring semesters. The institute also organizes pedagogical projects and manages and supports scholarly research.
The prize was funded by Geoffrey and Caroline de Jager, who fund SCIO’s alumni and academic awards. The de Jagers have a longstanding commitment to encouraging excellence in education and scholarship.
“I am honored to receive this award and grateful to the de Jagers for their generosity and support of my scholarly work,” said Sray.
During her semester at SCIO, Sray enrolled in two tutorials, one-on-one meetings with professors that focus on independent learning and argumentation. She chose to study The Anglican Choral Tradition and Sacred Art. Sray also completed a research project on the theology of the Holy Spirit in Piers Plowman, a Middle English poem by William Langland, and took a class on 19th-century aesthetics.
“I particularly loved the interdisciplinary possibilities and the one-on-one extended discussion time that tutorials offer,” Sray said. “I could incorporate theology with literature, the history of ecclesiastical embroidery with art history, and architecture with music. I also learned that community is formed by shared worship, rhythms, and food.”
Sray graduated in May with a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Languages integrated with Choral Studies and minors in English and Music. She was a fellow in the Aequitas Public Humanities and Arts cohort and a member of the Wheaton College Concert Choir for three years. In the future, Sray hopes to return to the city of Oxford for further study.
—Juliana Bacote