SU's Lenox Wins St. Andrew's Scholarship

SALISBURY, MD---It’s been years in the making, but Salisbury University senior Jack Lenox has found a way to fulfill a challenge he set for himself years ago.

As Salisbury University’s first recipient of the St. Andrew’s Society of the State of New York Scholarship, Lenox will spend a year in Scotland, studying at the University of Edinburgh while pursuing his master’s degree.

“When I was 13, I visited Scotland for a few days with my family and fell in love with Edinburgh,” the Odenton, MD, resident said. “When I was 16, I went to Glasgow for a theatre festival and fell in love with Scottish culture, and was determined to find a way back.”

The scholarship gives Lenox $35,000 to assist with tuition, travel and lodging during his year abroad as he pursues his master’s in global health policy, a slight change from his SU studies of biological sciences and chemistry, with which he graduates with bachelor’s degrees in May 2021.

“I’m jumping from STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] and hard research science into the more social and political world,” he said. “This is a leap of faith for me, and I’m seeing it as an opportunity to take my background as a scientist and become a stronger advocate with the added insight of policy from a global health perspective.

“What I really want to do is use this next year as a time of learning and expanding my skill set, as what I want to do doesn’t really exist. I want to work at the intersection of climate, global health, justice and policy. I want to find some way to make all of my passions work, and this master’s is the next step in that progression.”

Lenox credits Dr. Jessica Clark, SU associate professor of biological sciences, with helping him to see the possibility of straying slightly from his undergraduate course work to guide him toward what he hopes to be his career path.

“I don’t think that I would have seen the opportunity in this scholarship without her advice,” said Lenox, who counts Clark as both a research and personal mentor. “She’s one of the people who helped me discover what’s most important to me and what I really care about versus what I think I’m supposed to care about. I don’t think that I would have been as independent in this without Dr. Clark’s mentorship.”

The St. Andrew’s Foundation, based in New York, celebrates Scottish heritage. Scholarship recipients must by of Scottish descent and from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania or New England. Prior to learning of the scholarship, Lenox was aware of his paternal family’s heritage from Scotland, but in applying for this opportunity, his family took a deeper interest in learning about their history.

“I wasn’t really able to explore my Scottish lineage until this opportunity came about,” said Lenox, whose relatives seven generations back on his father’s side emigrated to the U.S. in the early 1800s.

“I had known that I was descended from Scots, but when I told my family that I was applying for this program, one of my aunts dove deep into our family genealogy and got to learn the story of when and how my family emigrated from Edinburgh to Bourbon County, Kentucky. Being able to explore that has been really interesting.”

Lenox was the first applicant from SU in the history of the scholarship and joins good company with recent recipients from Harvard University, Amherst College, Columbia University and more.

“The prestige of the St Andrews Scholarship reflects well on Jack and both his strength in researching within Dr Clark’s lab as well as his involvement on campus,” said Dr. Kristen Walton, director of SU’s Nationally Competitive Fellowships Office. “Jack is truly a remarkable person whose grit, hard work, intellect and compassion for others has placed him among our most successful students.”

The St. Andrew’s Society awards five scholarships each year – three to U.S. students to travel to Scotland and two for Scottish students to study in the U.S.

Those interested in applying for scholarship opportunities may contact Walton at kpwalton@salisbury.edu.

For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU website at www.salisbury.edu.