Matthew Clifford will read the MPhil in US History at Kellogg College, University of Oxford. Originally from West Nyack, New York, Matthew will graduate with honors from the United States Military Academy in May 2026 with a major in American History and a minor in French. At West Point, Matthew has served as the Executive Officer of Company C-1 and studied abroad in Lille, France. His academic interests center on the ethnic identity and battlefield performance of immigrants during the American Civil War, and his work has featured in The Civil War Monitor. Matthew also heads numerous clubs at West Point, serving as president of the Latin Reading Group and French Language Program, as well as Fellowship Director of his Knights of Columbus council. Outside of the classroom, he enjoys hiking, traveling, and learning new languages.

Helena Drake will read the MSt in Medieval Studies at Wolfson College, University of Oxford. She graduated from Princeton University with a BA in Comparative Literature, specializing in French and Russian literature, and minoring in Medieval Studies, and Slavic Languages and Literature. At Princeton, she received the André Maman Senior Thesis Prize for her research on conceptions of identity and fin’amor in 12th- and 13th-century French chivalric romances. At Oxford, she intends to study 13th-century devotional poetry using fin’amor language to understand its relation to the troubadour tradition. During her time as an undergraduate, she studied abroad at Sorbonne Université, Université Paris 8, and Tallinn University, and spent time volunteer-teaching English to French-speaking immigrants in the Trenton area. Most recently, Helena was a Pre-doctoral Research Associate at the University of Notre Dame. There she assisted with academic programming in the Department of Political Science, and took courses on literature and historiography in medieval France. Helena is originally from Indiana, and in her free time, enjoys running, painting, and creative writing.

Zach Gardner plans to read the MPhil in Theology (Christian Ethics). Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, he is a senior at Princeton University, where his thesis focused on the history, philosophy, and theory of the presidential pardon power. Apart from his degree in Politics, he will also receive minors in History and English. At Princeton, Zach served as the President of the Princeton Federalist Society and the Princeton Open Campus Coalition, as well as the Publisher of the Princeton Tory. He also sang in the Princeton Glee Club. During the summers, he interned in the Georgia Governor’s Office and the United States Senate, and he was a member of the American Enterprise Institute’s Summer Honors Academy in Washington, D.C. At Oxford, he plans to focus his work on political theology, Christian humanism, and the ethics of emerging technologies. He loves reading Shakespeare, seeing plays, writing, listening to metal music, and drinking lots of coffee.

Rebecca Guzman will read the MSt in Creative Writing at Brasenose College, University of Oxford. Rebecca graduated from Yeshiva University Stern College for Women summa cum laude with a major in English and a concentration in Creative Writing. At Stern College, she was a Straus Scholar at The Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought and served as both Senior Opinions Editor of The YU Commentator and Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Maccabee Review, the university’s first digital student-led literary magazine. As an undergraduate, Rebecca had the privilege of interning for the New York Times bestselling author Dara Horn and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bret Stephens at SAPIR Journal. At Oxford, she hopes to develop fiction that highlights contemporary religious life, exploring the interplay between faith, tradition, and individuality. In her free time, Rebecca enjoys baking, reading, and exploring her native New York City.

Alexander Keogh will read the MSc in Sociology and the MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford. He earned a dual degree in Psychology and Chinese with minors in Asian Studies and Global Business and Literacy from Brigham Young University, where he was supported by the Wheatley Institute Scholarship for his work using religion to promote bipartisan civic engagement. With his wife Mirabella, Alexander co-founded The Peacemaker Project and the annual National Student Conference for Peacemaking in efforts to promote civil discourse in American higher education. Born in Dundee, Scotland and raised in Bentonville, Arkansas, Alexander served two years as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Taiwan. He later won the 2023 North American Championship for comprehensive Chinese skills, advancing to represent America in the world final. His research on cross-cultural negotiation has taken him to Singapore, Uzbekistan, Greece, Austria, and across the United States. He is also interested in networks, depolarization, and critical perspectives on the philosophy of science. After Oxford, Alexander hopes to explore these topics further during doctoral studies. He enjoys classical choral music and has sung in sacred spaces across Europe, and has performed solo Mandopop for audiences throughout China. His ideal Friday night includes walking around campus talking with his wife, followed by an episode of The West Wing with some ice cream.

Kephas Olsson will read the MPhil in Intellectual History at New College, University of Oxford. Originally from Lander, Wyoming, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Notre Dame as a Glynn Family Honors Program student, majoring in the Program of Liberal Studies. He is particularly interested in seventeenth-century literature, neo-Latin, the history of humanism, and radical religion. His senior thesis examined the reception of the Socinian heresy in England as a hermeneutic, rather than political or theological, innovation. After completing his MPhil, Kephas will attend Yale University to pursue a PhD in English Literature. He loves choral music, chess, spoken Latin, and long walks. Kephas is the 2026 Jason Wilson Barry Scholar.

Kristine Pashin will read for the DPhil in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics at Balliol College, University of Oxford, under Professor Dame Molly Stevens. Kristine graduated from Stanford University with a BS in Symbolic Systems and Art History with dual Honors and an MA in Public Policy. Her work explores how biological development and human understanding of life can be approached with both scientific care and ethical reflection, with particular attention to the responsibilities that accompany emerging biomedical advances. She is completing two honors theses: one on neural organoids and moral status, and another in art history on the visual mediation of pain. Outside of her studies, she trains in endurance sports, choreographs and performs across multiple dance disciplines, and is an avid collector of art.

Ginger Schiffmayer will read the MPhil in Late Antique and Byzantine Studies at Exeter College, University of Oxford. Originally from the beautiful mountain town of Evergreen, Colorado, she graduated summa cum laude from Grove City College with a degree in History. As an undergraduate, Ginger served as captain of the Grove City Debate team, editor-in-chief of Cogitare magazine, a publication covering issues at the intersection of faith, culture, and politics, executive style editor for the Grove City Journal of Law and Public Policy, and president of Grove City’s history honorary. She spent summers in Corinth, Greece, Belmonte in Sabina, Italy, and Central City, Colorado, engaged in archaeological fieldwork. Her undergraduate thesis investigated the role of spiritual warfare in the instructional writings of St Jerome. At Oxford, Ginger is excited to continue her study of Late Antique religion, focusing on monasticism in the Byzantine Levant. Outside of the classroom, Ginger enjoys hiking, writing, and face-painting at local festivals.

Ryan James Sheehan will read the DPhil in History at the University of Oxford. He is graduating from the University of Florida with an MA in History, a BA in History (summa cum laude), and a minor in Classical Studies. He has received several awards for his study of ancient languages and will employ these skills at Oxford to examine the relationship between legal and societal developments in Anglo-Saxon England. His senior thesis, awarded highest honors, began this project by critically reassessing the relationship between oral law and King Æthelberht’s dōmas. A four-time FLAS Fellow in Polish, Ryan studied in Warsaw and Kraków, conducting translation and methodological analysis of Joachim Lelewel’s Historyka (1815). The study was further enriched by the Hamilton School’s Society of Fellows trip to England. He has presented conference papers on the development of Christian doctrine and on the ways Erich Przywara’s Analogia Entis (1932) reframes historicism, and has delivered lectures at the University of Florida’s Geist on Athenian tragedy, Florentine humanism, and historiography. In his free time, Ryan enjoys, above all, the company of his wife and daughter, but also sometimes leatherworking and pilgrimages to Mount Athos.

Joe Silva will read the MPhil in Eastern Christian Studies at St Peter’s College, University of Oxford. Originally from Colorado, he is graduating from Princeton University with an AB in History and a minor in Hellenic Studies. His senior thesis examines the reception of St Thomas Aquinas’ theology in 14th century Byzantium through a study of the life and excommunication of the hieromonk Prochoros Kydones. He hopes to continue studying Eastern monasticism at Oxford, with a special emphasis on the Syriac tradition. At Princeton, Joe played fullback for the university rugby club, was a member of the Glorious Tiger Inn, and served as the Co-President of the Aquinas Institute, Princeton’s Catholic campus ministry. When he can, Joe enjoys climbing 14ers, watching movies with his friends, and spending time at the beach with his family.

Maxx Thalmann will read the MSc in Migration Studies at Kellogg College, University of Oxford. A Stamps Scholar, he will graduate summa cum laude from the United States Naval Academy in 2026 with a degree in Quantitative Economics. His undergraduate research focuses on international economics, specifically examining how China’s Belt and Road Initiative impacts development in Latin America. At the Academy, Maxx distinguished himself in leadership as Regimental Commander and as Chief of Staff for the Naval Academy Foreign Affairs Conference. To complement his academic focus, Maxx interned at the Development Finance Corporation. Outside the classroom, he serves as the Director of Development and Strategy for Row4Life, an organization dedicated to preventing ethnic conflict and nurturing exceptional leadership through rowing. This past summer, as a recipient of the Summer International Service Leadership Scholarship, he volunteered in Quito, Ecuador, mentoring 75 at-risk children at a women-run daycare center. In his free time, Maxx enjoys traveling, board sports, and training for triathlons.

Rose Webster will read the MPhil in Eastern Christian Studies at Campion Hall, University of Oxford. She is from Denver, Colorado and is studying Theology and Religion at Regent’s Park College, University of Oxford. Her undergraduate thesis studied theories of Christ’s Sonship in fifth-century Christology. During the MPhil, she will pursue further studies in Byzantine Greek and Syriac Christology, and she hopes to bring the fruits of this research into conversation with modern systematic theology. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, soccer, and choral music.

Madeline Wiseman will read for the MSc by Research in Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics at St Cross College, University of Oxford. Originally from Colorado, she is graduating from Columbia University with a BA in Biology. During college, her research in the Rice Lab was focused on the localization of GABA-A receptors in midbrain dopamine neurons, resulting in a publication in Cell Reports. Building on this foundation, Madeline will work with the Cragg Group at Oxford to investigate neural mechanisms underlying Parkinson’s Disease. While at Columbia she served as co-president for the Columbia Catholic Ministry and was active in clinical volunteer work at NYU Langone and Calvary Hospital. Outside of academics, she enjoys singing, learning about different religious and cultural traditions, and reading G. K. Chesterton.

Willow Taylor Chiang Yang will read the MSc in Politics (Research) at Brasenose College, University of Oxford. Originally from San Francisco, California, she graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, as a Morehead-Cain Scholar studying American Political Economy and Philosophy in 2025. Her undergraduate thesis explored how socioeconomic status predicts the considerations graduating college students weigh when choosing their careers and made normative claims about work opportunity pluralism. At UNC, she researched elite political polarization, tutored for the economics department, and assisted in organizing the second International Behavioral Public Policy Conference. She also served on the Provost’s Advisory Committee and was an Agora Fellow with the Program for Public Discourse. At Oxford, Willow hopes to continue to explore the individual and macro-level determinants of labor supply and what they can tell us about the present economy and culture. On her gap year, she has been working with the Morehead-Cain Foundation on quantifying career trajectories; she also lived and worked on a farm in rural Germany and a vineyard in Portugal, and she is currently learning the cello and continuing to play competitive volleyball.