Founders' Scholarship
Each year, Wyoming Catholic College offers admitted students the opportunity to compete for a full-tuition award through its Founders’ Scholarship Competition.
Over three days, invitees will attend WCC classes, discover Wyoming’s sublimely beautiful landscape, practice rhetoric in both seminar and writing, and discuss a topic with professors in small, Oxford-style tutorials.
The Fall competition will be held November 9th-12th, 2023, and the Spring competition will be held February 8th-11th, 2024.
In this weekend-long competition, the best high school students from across the country discuss, debate, question, and think about great texts and great ideas at the highest level, all while competing for a full-tuition scholarship.
On Friday afternoon, candidates participate in a dynamic WCC-style seminar discussion. The seminar is followed by Oxford-style tutorials with College faculty. This offers the faculty the opportunity to see how the students think and interact, and at the same time the students see how our faculty think and interact.
On Saturday, all invitees write a timed essay.
The weekend concludes with the Dean’s Banquet and entertainment provided by the WCC student body.
Participants must submit a complete 2024-2025 academic application and be accepted to Wyoming Catholic College prior to the competition. Students who exhibit academic excellence throughout the application essay, letters of reference, and high school transcript will be accepted into the competition.
Title: Obedience and Its Limits
Description:
“What answer shall we make to this, Crito? Do the laws speak truly, or do they not?”
Socrates, facing an unjust verdict and death sentence, resists his friend who is urging
him to escape from prison. He then invites him to consider whether or not he should
comply with the verdict, and why. Our default response to authority in the family, in
religion, and in the state is obedience. But are there also circumstances that require a
different response–disobedience, rebellion, even outrage? What are the grounds for
both obedience and its limits? Socrates, Abraham, and a young Snopes all face
situations that compel us to weigh compliance against the claims of authority.
Readings:
William Faulkner, Barn Burning
Genesis 18:1-15, 21:1-8, 22:1-19
Plato, Crito
Physical copies will be provided for all participants at the competition.
The College runs a complimentary shuttle for participants to and from Denver International Airport (DIA). Students wishing to take advantage of the shuttle should arrive in Denver airport by 11:30 am on Thursday. The shuttle will depart from Denver International Airport after the last passengers arrive on Thursday of the competition weekend. Please schedule your flight to arrive before noon on Thursday. Students arriving in Denver International Airport should collect their baggage and proceed to baggage carousel number 12 in the Jeppesen Terminal. This is on the west side of the building between doors 512 and 514. A representative from the College will meet participants starting at 9:30 am. If you have trouble finding us, or your flight/baggage is delayed, please call Ms Emily Gecosky at (734)744-3536.
Students using the shuttle to return to Denver airport are advised not to book flights with departure times before 2:00 pm on Sunday. Students will be dropped off as close as possible to the check-in area of their airline. Shuttles will depart for Denver International Airport on Sunday no later than 5:30 am, so be ready at your dormitory at 5:00 am.
Students who are driving their own vehicle should make arrangements to be in Lander by 6 pm on Thursday of the competition weekend Please check in the at the College’s main entrance at 306 Main St. in Lander. There you will receive your reading packet and other orientation materials. Please check in between 5:30 and 6:00 pm on Thursday evening.
Those arriving by air but not taking the Denver shuttle will be met by College representatives and directed on a case-by-case basis.
Students not on the shuttle should plan to depart campus by 12 pm on Sunday, but are free to leave any time before then.
Please take a moment to complete the travel form and contact the Admissions Office if you have further questions
The College will provide lodging for all participants. There is no need to book a hotel or other lodging for a student participating in the competitions.
If you have not already signed and returned a risk waiver to WCC, either for this competition or a previous stay such as PEAK program, please complete the visitor waiver
Founders' Scholarship Competition Weekend Registration
Submitting this form does not guarantee you a spot in a Founders’ Competition Weekend. Make sure that you submit your academic application materials by the above deadlines. The admissions office will contact you to inform you of your acceptance into the competition weekend.