You leave your dorm on a Friday in the middle of February. There’s something different today. You cannot quite place it. First, you notice a surprising amount of red Union polos being worn. You don’t think much. You then make your way to chapel, where it is so full that you don’t have anywhere to sit. After chapel, you make your way over to Cobo, where the lines are so long that you make the business decision that it is a Lex day. Then it hits you … It’s scholar’s weekend. Dread it; run from it. Destiny still arrives all the same.
Scholars of Excellence is an annual competition held for high school seniors who have displayed academic excellence to allow them to compete for scholarships, including a full-ride. Students spend Saturday in interviews and discussion groups with other students and professors. But one of the most unique aspects of the weekend is that every scholar is hosted by a current Union student. From when the students arrive on Friday until they leave Saturday evening, the hosts get to spend time and pour into their scholar while opening their dorm room to them.
While I did not host anyone, I was able to have some great conversations with those who did, as well as the scholars they hosted.
“I was really excited to host,” Ezra Garrison, a freshman economics and languages double major from DeLand, Florida, who opened his doors to a scholar this past weekend, said. “I already knew the guy beforehand, so it was good to get to see him again, while at the same time, be able to get closer with him.”
Garrison talked about how he was able to grow from hosting just as much as he feels Jude Sparkman, the scholar he housed, grew from being hosted.
“The opportunity was definitely something I appreciate, looking back on it now,” Garrison said. “Being able to show Jude around as well as just help him out truly helped me feel like . . . I was contributing to someone else’s initial experiences here at Union.”
Sparkman, an incoming cross-country recruit from Montana, who is planning on majoring in exercise science, seemed eager and ready to take on such a daunting weekend full of interviews, people watching your every move and feeling like you always have to be on your best behavior.
As I met with Sparkman in a dorm here at school, he seemed excited to talk about this weekend with me, often trying to contain a smile that seemed trapped on his face. I could tell he had a great weekend.
“It’s definitely hard,” Sparkman said. “There’s so many really smart and talented people here. Obviously, I’m not the smartest one in the room, but it’s fun to think that you might be.”
Sparkman compared the drastic shift from Montana to here in Jackson. He talked about how the other scholars he met were here with their parents, but he took this trip solo. To Sparkman, that was the best thing he could’ve done. He liked the challenge of doing this whole weekend alone and diving straight into the fire.
“Like bison running into the storm,” Sparkman said. “You just got to get through it, right?”
Garrison commented on how much he enjoyed spending that time with Sparkman. He reminded me of a passage from Hebrews that tells us not to neglect others but to share the love of God and share what you have because it pleases the Lord.
“It was really fulfilling,” Garrison said. “Being able to be there with Jude — helping him in any way I could — let me see how the Lord works through everything and how, through this act, we are pleasing the Lord. I apologize if that sounds cheesy, but it is the truth.”
It’s not cheesy if it is the truth.
Sparkman, despite the mental strain of the weekend, seemed very optimistic as he looked towards the future.
“This weekend allowed me just to face the stress and realize that other people are stressed too,” Sparkman said, still with a smile on his face. “When you start thinking about other people more, that almost destresses you yourself.”
Scholars Weekend is truly a testament, not just to the school or the scholars themselves, but to the good work of the Lord, allowing believers to come together in one place, growing closer to each other while ultimately growing closer to God. Sparkman told me of how Scholars of Excellence has let him see just how much emphasis the university puts on Christ. He has allowed himself to be refreshed by reconnecting with the Lord by being around like-minded people, as compared to public school back home in Montana, where not many people knew the Lord.
“Most of the time, back home, I was pouring out to people,” Sparkman said. “And this was the time when I felt poured into.”
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