The award bears the name of tutor Philip LeCuyer, who was born in 1944 and grew up in Wyoming and rural Colorado. He graduated from Colorado College in 1956, and then studied for three more years at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. After working in Germany, he returned to America, and in 1972, joined the faculty of St. John’s College on its Santa Fe campus, just 8 years after its founding in 1964. Mr. LeCuyer rotated through the whole of the undergraduate program roughly six or seven times between 1972 and 2019. Mr. LeCuyer influenced many students over the course of his 47 years at St. John’s College as both an original thinker and an inspiring tutor.

This endowed merit scholarship provides each recipient with a financial award for intellectual contribution to the life of the college. Each scholar is chosen through consultation with faculty for characteristics befitting the scholarship. The scholars are listed below alongside select notes from faculty members:

2024 Philip LeCuyer Scholar: Antonia Bonnaire

“She is passionate about discussion, but never impulsive in her remarks. Her grace in conversation, paired with her wit and light-pensiveness makes it such a joy to have her in seminar and to think with her. [Her paper] was a tour de force of reason and jest where ‘oracles’ and ‘law officials’ managed to coexist in the same sentence...She happens to be a United World College student. And she is a great citizen of the campus community.”

2023 Philip LeCuyer Scholar: Sam Roy

“Mr. Roy fits the purpose well. He is an excellent student, but in a style that suggests both originality and creativity of thought (‘imaginative,’ ‘innovative’) and gentleness and warmth with fellow students, reminiscent of Mr. LeCuyer. A gentle leader, widely respected by peers, and admired by tutors for his work and his collegial presence. He has also been an important student voice outside the classroom, eloquent in hard discussions of difficult issues on campus, reflexively calm and calming.”

2022 Philip LeCuyer Scholar: Portia Abbott

“Ms. Abbott fits the confines of this scholarship perfectly: an exceptional student, yes, but one who also stands out for creativity and imagination; for example, one of our finest and most engaged lab tutors said she did the best lab notebook he had seen in all his years; other tutors offered similar comments on the originality and boldness of her intellect and interpretive strategies.”

2020 and 2021 Philip LeCuyer Scholar: Onysha Boak

“Ms. Boak has distinguished herself as a poised, mature, and forceful thinker and leader in classes. Not overly dramatic or dominant, she nonetheless has a decisive impact on her classes. The qualities of her insights, her sheer intellectual ability, and her patient yet firm contributions are all relied upon by her tutors to improve all her classes, and she has excelled across the board. She has brought similar qualities to student leadership and voice outside the classroom, including in recent discussions on race and diversity, as well as in advising the administration... A Johnnie in full!”