The Montaigne Scholarship Event

Do you like to read - and follow up a good read with an intelligent conversation? Is every new book a chance to dig into questions that really matter? If so, the Shimer Great Books School at North Central College may be the perfect place for you. We want to help open the door.

Scroll through to the bottom of this page for full details on the Montaigne Scholarship and how to participate!

The Montaigne Scholarship provides substantial tuition relief for students seeking to join the Shimer Great Books School at North Central College. It also offers a taste of what students do in the Shimer School, where we read, discuss and write about the “best that has been thought and said in the world.”

• Read a personal essay in the tradition of Michel de Montaigne.
• Write an original response
• Participate in a seminar discussion with fellow applicants

We think of the Shimer School as part of a “great conversation.” The Montaigne Scholarship Event is our invitation to join that conversation and carry it on with all of us in the Shimer School - and with all those authors, like Michel de Montaigne, from whom we continue to learn.

The Montaigne Scholarship Event helps introduce prospective students to the Shimer Great Books School and our unique approach to a college education. It is not a competition between applicants; rather, the reading, writing and discussion that comprise the event are designed to reflect the main features of every course offered by the Shimer School.

The first step in each year’s event is for prospective participants to request and read the “subject essay” for that year. Prospective participants can request this year’s subject essay from Laura Kendall Zimmermann at lmkendallzimmermann@noctrl.edu, from McKenna Herbst, at mjherbst@noctrl.edu, or from Stuart Patterson, at skpatterson@noctrl.edu.

The second step is for students to write their own personal “response essay” in reply to the subject essay, guided by a prompt set by the scholarship committee (which prompt will be supplied along with the subject essay). When a participant is satisfied with their response essay, they will submit it to Stuart Patterson (skpatterson@noctrl.edu), thereby signaling their interest in participating in the next Montaigne Scholarship Event. Please note: a participant’s response essay must be received before they can participate in the third and final phase of the Montaigne Scholarship Event.

The third and final step is for participants to join other participants in a discussion of the subject essay. For this discussion, participants will be joined by a Shimer School faculty member, who will lead the discussion among participants as they would any Shimer School class. This discussion will give participants a sense of how their ideas on the subject essay compare to those of other participants. Participants will also get a sense of how their courses would be run should they attend the Shimer School.

The scholarship events are free to enter and open to any prospective student interested in attending North Central College as a major in the Shimer Great Books School, including students transferring from other 2-year and 4-year programs.

Successful participants will receive the Montaigne Scholarship of up to $5,000 annually in addition to their current academic scholarship. Scholarships are renewable at the same dollar amounts and do not increase in subsequent years.

The Montaigne Scholarship is not a competition between participants. All awards are based solely on the quality of a participant's "response essay" and their participation in the Event Day discussion (see "The Montaigne Event" above). No other aspects of participants’ academic records or other aspects of their application to the Shimer School will be taken into account when determining awards.

Only students enrolled in one of the four majors offered by the Shimer Great Books School are eligible to receive the Montaigne Scholarship. Please see this page on our curriculum for more information on majoring in the Shimer School.

Montaigne Scholarship Events are opportunities for prospective students to meet each other, discuss some big ideas, and get a sense of the kind of intellectual and social journey awaits them in the Shimer School. Participants in the Montaigne Scholarship who cannot attend on the scheduled Event days can request to be interviewed by a Shimer School faculty member instead.

NOTE: For Winter and Spring 2020-2021, all Montaigne Events will be held online.

All those wishing to participate in a Montaigne Event in preparation for enrolling in the Shimer School for Fall 2021 should contact Laura Kendall Zimmermann, at lmkendallzimmermann@noctrl.edu or McKenna Herbst, at mjherbst@noctrl.edu.