Princeton seniors Zach Gardner and Joe Silva and Class of 2025 alumna Helena Drake have been awarded the John and Daria Barry Scholarship for study at the University of Oxford.
The scholarship was established in 2019 and “is awarded to the leading students of the United States of America in recognition of their dedication to the pursuit of truth,” according to the Barry Scholars announcement. It provides full funding for a minimum of two years of study, including tuition, a living stipend, and yearly stipends for research and travel.
Helena Drake majored in comparative literature, with a focus on French and Russian languages and literature, and earned minors in medieval studies and Slavic languages and literatures at Princeton.
This academic year, she has been a predoctoral research associate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame, helping plan and develop academic programming, and taking courses in her field of study prior to beginning her graduate studies.
“Oxford has one of the largest forums in the world for studying the Middle Ages,” she said, “so I am very excited to join their scholarly community this fall and learn from such brilliant scholars.”
At Princeton, her thesis, which was a co-winner of the André Maman senior thesis prize, focused on differing conceptions of identity in medieval French literature. In summer 2024, she participated in Princeton’s Russian language intensive course in Tallinn, Estonia, and she studied in Paris at the Sorbonne Université and Université Paris 8 spring semester of her junior year. She was also a global ambassador for Princeton Study Abroad.
Outside the classroom, she volunteered with El Centro in Trenton, New Jersey, teaching an English language course to French-speaking adults. She was also an English language conversation partner with the McGraw Center and a student leader of the Aquinas Institute, Princeton’s Catholic campus ministry, which she served as its president her senior year.
After Oxford, Drake has been accepted to Princeton as a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of French and Italian.
Zach Gardner is a politics major on the American ideals and institutions track, and is also earning minors in English and history.
In addition to his excitement about joining the community of students and scholars at Oxford, “I am looking forward to being in a place as old and historic as Oxford,” he said. “I believe that places teach you things, and I am excited for the lessons that the town and surrounding areas have in store.”
In 2024, Gardner received the Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence. His senior thesis focuses on the history, philosophy and theory of presidential pardon power.
He is also an undergraduate fellow in the Program in Law and Public Policy and the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, through which he participated in the Oxford Convivium seminar at Jesus College, Oxford, in summer 2025.
Outside the classroom, Gardner is the former publisher of the Princeton Tory, Princeton’s student-led magazine of conservative thought, and the former president of the Princeton Federalist Society and the Princeton Open Campus Coalition. He is also a member of the Princeton University Glee Club and Rockefeller College.
Gardner completed summer internships at the Georgia Governor’s Office and the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Nominations and Constitution Unit, and was a member of the American Enterprise Institute’s Summer Honors Academy.
He intends to pursue a career in law or public life. “I also love writing, so I will try and make that a big part of how I contribute knowledge and insight to the world,” he said.
Joe Silva is a history major who is also earning a minor in Hellenic studies. He plans to supplement his studies at Oxford with participation in the Canterbury Institute, which awards the Barry Scholarship.
His senior thesis focuses on the reception of St. Thomas Aquinas in Byzantium. In particular, he studied the monk Prochoros Kydones, “who was responsible for translating some of Aquinas’ works from Latin into Greek, and for writing theological treatises in the Thomistic method,” Silva said.
In addition to studying Latin and Attic and Koine Greek at Princeton, Silva spent his junior spring studying at Hertford College, Oxford, where he focused specifically on Ionic Greek.
In addition to his academic studies, Silva is part of the Princeton University Chapel Watch, co-president and former liturgy chair of the Aquinas Institute, and a member of the men’s rugby football club. He is a member of Rockefeller College.
In summer 2024, he served as a youth adviser with Midtown-Metro Achievement Centers in Chicago.
After his studies at Oxford, Silva is considering pursuing a J.D. or Ph.D.
