SPS varsity football team claims 2024 NEPSAC John Papas Bowl
May 6, 2024
Lidia Zur Muhlen ‘24 named a Jefferson Scholar at UVA.
Massachusetts native Lidia Zur Muhlen ’24 has truly embraced the pursuit of excellence in character and scholarship during her four years at St. Paul’s School, from taking honors courses and completing a summer externship at Massachusetts General Hospital as a member of the School’s selective Applied Science and Engineering Program (ASEP) to playing varsity tennis and assisting members of the Concord community as a Sokoloff Grant recipient. With graduation on the horizon, she is now preparing for takeoff at the University of Virginia as a recipient of the highly competitive Jefferson Scholarship.
Similar to other prestigious university scholarships, the Jefferson is awarded by nomination only; high schools are invited to put forward a single outstanding senior who demonstrates excellence and exceptional potential in the areas of leadership, scholarship and engaged citizenship. What follows is a rigorous selection process — and the competition is steep. Last year, more than 2,300 students were nominated for the scholarship from schools in 47 U.S. states and territories and 49 countries. Approximately 30 Jefferson Scholars are named each year.
As well as covering the full cost of attendance at UVA, the scholarship will provide Zur Muhlen with enriched offerings that include individualized travel study, a semester at Oxford University, access to a network of Scholars and alumni, research opportunities, specialized courses, professional development and entrepreneurial opportunities and more. Zur Muhlen also will be an Echols Scholar at UVA, which will allow her to create an individualized, interdisciplinary major.
“I am most excited to be a part of a group of highly motivated individuals who all come from very different backgrounds,” says Zur Muhlen. “It will be extremely beneficial to be part of such a tight-knit cohort.”
While the official nomination and selection process began in summer 2023, Zur Muhlen has been on the path toward distinction for academics and community leadership since she arrived on campus. She’s earned First Testimonials with Honor every year while taking honors courses in Spanish, chemistry and calculus, among others; competing as a member of several varsity athletic teams; and writing for the student newspapers, The Pelican and The Partisan (she’s served as editor-in-chief for both). Still, she says she wasn’t always sure where her strengths and interests lay.
My Fourth Form year was really transformative … because I became really close with two of my teachers. They both helped me to gain confidence in myself and [their] areas of study, STEM and humanities. I think that’s part of coming here — you can find those adults who you’re really close with and that really transforms your experience.”
— Lidia Zur Muhlen ’24
Zur Muhlen also credits her ASEP experience and her 2023 externship with reaffirming her decision to pursue science in college, potentially along the global health route. That interest dovetails nicely with her commitment to service. Last year, she raised funds for a generator at a Ukrainian orphanage, and used her Sokoloff Grant to work with the nonprofit Family Promise of Greater Concord to support families in their rotating shelter program. This year, she’s been working with the Concord nonprofit Friends of Forgotten Children, where she and several other SPS students cook weekly meals.
Now, with just weeks remaining to her time at SPS, Zur Muhlen is looking forward not only to further exploring her academic, athletic and service-oriented interests at UVA, but also to discovering new pursuits. “The university has so much to offer, and I am excited to find things I like and don’t like and begin to home in on what truly interests me,” she says. “With the Jefferson [Scholarship], the possibilities are endless.”
