Sasha Luhur ’27. Photo by Mr. Michael Aldridge.
I’m at the gate at JFK International Airport, recounting my experience as a shortlisted finalist in the 2024 John Locke Institute Global Essay Prize event in London, UK. It was a truly fun and rewarding week, and I made many new friends!
Friday
This was arguably the most nerve-wracking part of the week—I walked into the lobby with my parents and was surrounded by fellow finalists. No one was talking to each other, and they mostly stayed with their parents, so it was daunting. I remember feeling out of place or that I shouldn’t be there with all these amazing kids. (Later, I found out that literally all of us had felt the exact same way.)
2024 John Locke Institute Global Essay Prize event in London, UK. Photo by Sasha Luhur ’27.
The event on the schedule that day was our mixer and welcome dinner, with the main purpose being to meet our peers and get comfortable with each other for the rest of the weekend. By the time the night was over, everyone on our table had become good friends, and we talked about everything, from our essay topics to our daily lives at our respective schools. We listened to the welcome speeches whose themes were around the goal of the John Locke Institute– “intellectual humility and the courage to think differently”– followed by preparations for our academic conferences, which were scheduled for the day after.
Saturday
2024 John Locke Institute Global Essay Prize event in London, UK. Photo by Sasha Luhur ’27.
The day started at 9:45 a.m., beginning with a welcome address before the speakers took turns onstage. We listened to speeches from different professors on neuroscience, history, economics, and philosophy, as well as from politicians on their experiences in their fields. There were also student speakers selected to present their essays to their peers, and it was really inspiring to listen to these intelligent peers and get a sense of what other people wrote. In between lectures, we attended exhibitions from The Economist and different college-prep organizations. It was a long and packed day, but I learned a lot from the conferences and rushed back to the hotel at about 5 p.m. to prepare for the awards gala later that evening.
The awards dinner was my favorite part of the weekend—not for the food and ambiance, which was amazing, but because at my assigned table I met an entirely new group of eloquent and funny finalists. That group formed some of the best conversations I had at the event, and by the end of the night, we had covered many kinds of academic and school-life topics. I didn’t win a podium award; I earned a Merit award, but I’m glad I was even chosen as a finalist and couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to meet so many brilliant, fun, and humble peers from different parts of the world.
Sunday
On the last day, we had a half-day of college briefings about admissions into Oxford and Cambridge, or as they like to call it there, “Oxbridge.” We heard from alumni and former admissions officers about what they look for in their applicants, how the UK admissions system works, which parts of the application are emphasized, and how it differs from other countries’ expectations. It was very informative, and afterward, I still had the rest of the day to explore more of London with my parents. After dinner, it was time to pack as we were to leave London the next morning.
