JTC 26: Fostering a Global Community

Sydney Guntharp walked across the University of Mississippi campus in the late summer heat of August 2022 with her tenor saxophone strapped to her back, an uncertain young person trying to discover more about herself and her place in the world. 

“To be totally honest, I initially came to the university for financial reasons," the Hernando native said. "I was not able to afford to go to college out of state without taking on a lot of loans in my undergraduate studies.

“However, with the connections I have made while I have been here and the education I have been able to receive, I now realize that the University of Mississippi was exactly where I needed to be.”

Four years later, the political science and English major is preparing to walk across the Grove stage in May as a Stamps Impact Prize winner, a Fulbright Scholar and the university’s sixth finalist in three years for the Rhodes Scholarship.

“The university taught me that there is strength in leading with my conscience, trusting my intuition and believing that no matter where I came from, I am capable of greatness,” said Guntharp, who also earned a minor in gender studies.

“I applied for the Rhodes because I genuinely wanted to study at the University of Oxford and become a part of a cohort looking to create global progressive change. The process was stringent and mentally taxing but taught me so much about myself and how I want to leave a positive impact on the world around me.”

Guntharp has certainly made a meaningful impact on the university and Oxford community during her time here, said Vivian Ibrahim, director of the Office of National Scholarship Advisement.

“Sydney has helped foster spaces for dialogue and creativity," Ibrahim said. "She brings people together, challenges assumptions and raises the level of conversation in every room she enters. In many ways, she embodies the kind of engaged, globally minded student the university aspires to cultivate.

“Her development has been marked by an increasing depth of reflection, a willingness to take intellectual risks and a deepening commitment to the communities and causes she cares about.” 

While the awards and accolades are “amazing,” Guntharp said she is also grateful for the community and friendships she’s developed during her time at Ole Miss, either as a member of the Pride of the South marching band, the Women's Glee, University Chorus and Concert Singers or in working with her professors, fellow students and staff members.

She credits those experiences for improving her academic skills, narrowing the focus of her career ambitions and helping her realize the person she wants to become.

“The choir taught me everything I know about being a servant leader, and I've been extremely lucky to have the best mentors on this campus,” she said.

On one of her standout experiences at Ole Miss, Guntharp undertook two-week solo trip to conduct research in the New York Public Library and Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, thanks her Stamps Impact Prize.

“Professors like Dr. Jaime Harker, Dr. Patrick Alexander, Dr. Lauren Ferry, Dr. Ellen Shelton, Dr. Vivian Ibrahim and Dr. Whitney Woods supported me when I wasn’t feeling confident in my abilities, pushed me intellectually to do my best work, gave me invaluable mentorship and helped me to be a better scholar and human being," she said.

“I learned that education often means having more questions than answers, that I should constantly be open to changing my mind with new perspectives, but confident that the core principles I consider to be key values, of which the highest is empathy, will always lead me in the right direction.”

After graduation, Guntharp plans to head to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to pursue a doctorate in English and comparative literature.

Top: Sydney Guntharp, a political science and English graduate from Hernando, graduates in May as a Stamps Impact Prize winner, a Fulbright Scholar and the university's sixth Rhodes Scholarship finalist in three years. She will pursue a doctorate in English and comparative literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Photo by Hunt Mercier/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services

See more photos from Sydney Guntharp's Journey to Commencement