“She had spotted herself in the movie,” said Nunn, associate director of institutional advancement and administrator of the Bobby Jones Scholarship program.

The four Bobby Jones Scholars who came to Emory this year from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland had a special treat: serving as extras in the Bobby Jones biopic that opened in theaters across the country April 30.

Dressed in 1920s garb–tweed knickers, vests, and caps for the men; long-sleeved dresses and wide-brimmed hats for the ladies– Chris Dale, Tim Hayden-Smith, Rob Huddart, and Lynch, were in the background of scenes filmed last fall at East Lake Golf Club.

Rubbing elbows with celebrities like Jim Caviezel, star of The Passion of the Christ, who portrays Jones in the movie, and Malcolm McDowell, who plays Atlanta Journal writer O.B. Keeler, was thrilling, the scholars admit.

“The day was fantastic,” says Huddart. “I was cast as a caddie for an opponent of Bobby Jones. We were taken to costume at 5:30 a.m., then headed over to the set, where Jim Caviezel was practicing his swing. . . . After having seen the film, it appears to be an accurate portrayal of a great man. I am proud to be associated with his name and to learn more about his life.”

The Robert T. “Bobby” Jones Jr. Scholarship program started in 1976, the brainchild of Atlanta attorney F.M. “Buster” Bird, who was a former lawpartner of Bobby Jones.

Jones, a mechanical engineering graduate of Georgia Tech who earned a master’s degree in English from Harvard and attended Emory law school in 1926 and 1927, became world-renowned when in 1930 he won golf’s “Grand Slam”–the British Open, British Amateur, U.S. Open, and U.S. Amateur. Jones went on to found Augusta National Golf Club and its prestigious annual tournament, The Masters. After his death in 1971, a group of friends and colleagues honored him with a trust, which funds the scholarship program.

St. Andrews, Scotland’s oldest university, is adjacent to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club and the legendary Old Course, and seemed the perfect institution for such an exchange. The city had long ago adopted Bobby Jones, granting him the Freedom of the City and Royal Borough of St. Andrews in 1958.

Each year, four scholars are sent to St. Andrews from Emory and four travel to Emory from St. Andrews. Scholars are mostly recent graduates or graduate students (although an occasional undergraduate is selected); their room, board, tuition, and travel are covered.

Exploring the host country and serving as ambassadors abroad

is an important part of the program, says Senior Vice President of Institutional Advancement William H. Fox ’79 PhD, who heads the Atlanta-Emory Trust of the Jones Foundation.

“It’s a magnificent year after college,” says Fox. “We hope the students will take their academics very seriously, but we likewise want them to let this year be one of expanding horizons.”

Since the program began, two hundred and twelve scholars have participated. The scholars from St. Andrews typically involve themselves in extracurricular and community activities while here–over the years, they have taken part in Volunteer Emory, written for the Emory Wheel, taught science to fifth-graders in downtown Atlanta, played on Emory’s golf and tennis teams, performed in Emory theater, and interned at CNN and The Carter Center.

“Due to my fascination with the natural world, I became a leader for Outdoor Emory and am also working at the [WoodPEC] climbing area and traveling with the Emory Mountaineering Club . . . as well as being part of a group that is developing a storm water management plan for the University,” says Huddart, a geography major from the Lake District in northern England, who also interned at The Carter Center. “Geography is more than the study of maps. It is the study of the interactions between humans and the environment on the surface of the Earth.”

“The facilities here are superb. The Cox computer lab is way above anything St. Andrews can provide,” says Dale, a math major from Quedgeley, Gloucester. “But most significant to me has been the travel. We took a month-long road trip to the West Coast over winter break and saw and did so much more than we ever would have thought possible.”

Of the cross-country journey, the scholars best recall an awe-inspiring visit to Yosemite National Park. “The night was crystal clear, with a full moon and extensive snow cover. Chris and I went for a walk and saw the most fantastic sights . . . the towering cliffs of El Capitan, frozen lakes, rolling hills,” Huddart says. “We spent less than twenty-four hours in the park, but it was enough to convince me that it is one of the most beautiful places in the world.”

The four Emory graduates currently at St. Andrews as scholars are Dylan Bird ’03C, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, who is focusing on terrorism and molecular virology; Joel Boggan ’03C, of Jasper, Georgia, who is studying healthcare access; Melissa Roberts ’03C, of Billings, Montana, who is following her interests in neurobiology and athletics; and Kyle Wamstad ’03C, of San Francisco, who is concentrating on literature and writing.

“Having grown up the son of a minister father and an activist mother mainly in poor, rural areas of Tennessee and Georgia, I’ve been conditioned to devote my energies to helping those around me,” Boggan says. “A year at St. Andrews provides an incomparable opportunity to study the politics and administration of the socialized British National Health Service, in particular the access of the working- and lower-class to care, and compare it to the American health system.”

Next year’s Jones Scholars, who will travel to St. Andrews from Emory, are: Euler Bropleh ’04C, president of the student government organization and an international studies major from Sandy Hook, Connecticut; Emily Hunter ’04C, an interdisciplinary studies major from Wayzata, Minnesota, who speaks five languages; Josh McCaleb ’04C, a jazz pianist who is majoring in political science and music, from Succasunna, New Jersey; and Pete Sherlock ’04C, an economics and political science major from North Augusta, South Carolina–just across the river from Augusta National.

“I had decided to take a year off between college and law school and was looking for an experience that would be meaningful,” says Bropleh, who plans on taking classes in management, economics, and international relations to prepare for a career in international law and public policy. “The scholarship will give me the opportunity to live in and experience a totally different culture and to view American society from an outside perspective. I’ve been fairly focused throughout my college career and next year will give me a chance to reflect.”–M.J.L.