St. John’s College at Cambridge University in England has an illustrious list of graduates: prime ministers, Nobel Prize winners, princes, saints and even Danae Mercer, a Creighton journalism and political science graduate.

Mercer, who likens St. John’s to Hogwarts for Harry Potter geeks, earned the Davies-Jackson Scholarship that helped her to live out her dreams of travel and exploration. The scholarship paid for two years at Cambridge, but more importantly gave her life experiences she couldn’t get anywhere else.

Mercer said she found the scholarship to be personal and appealing to her in a very transitional time in her life.

“The scholarship wasn’t just ‘oh, you’re smart, you get this money to go to our school,’” Mercer said.  “It was more:  ‘What makes you, you?  Why are you different?  How have you struggled through your past and pushed forward into the future?’ I liked that.”

For the application, Mercer cooked up an unusual essay that she felt captured her quickly and honestly — baking was exactly that. The unusual approach made Mercer’s mentor, English professor Dr. Bridget Keegan, a little wary at first.

“The scholarship asked that you write a few different essays, one of which was, ‘Why do you want to go to Cambridge?” Keegan said. “I read her essay and she wrote, ‘I want to go to Cambridge to cook.’  I was a little nervous at the risk she was taking, but as I began to read on I was amazed at the way she used baking as a metaphor.”

January rolled around and there was still no news of the scholarship. The letter was more than a week late and even though Mercer did an excellent job on the application and was more than qualified for the scholarship, the stakes were high.  Mercer said she and all of her Creighton mentors were nervous.

“I was having an appointment with a student when Dr. Wunsch came running into my office and insisted that I speak with him,” Keegan said. “I assured him that I would speak with him as soon as I was done with my appointment, but he said that it was urgent and he had to speak to me then.  He handed me a letter that said Danae had won the Davies-Jackson scholarship.  We were both elated and frantically began looking for Danae to notify her of the good news.”

Mercer has always been known to dream big, but this time her dreams were becoming a reality.

It was official: Mercer would be moving to Cambridge to live atop of Honey Hill on St. John’s campus.

“I will be forever grateful,” Mercer said.  “It has changed my life and allowed me to live my dreams.”

Mercer was finally able to pursue her dreams in becoming a world traveler.  In 2010 her calendar consisted of: London (March), Indonesia (June), Barcelona (July) and India (August).  Mercer also took several weekend trips during her time at Cambridge to places around London and a small town called Bonifacio in southern Corsica.

Even with all the culturally diverse destinations that Mercer went to, Cambridge was not all fun and games.  Mercer did her fair share of academics with numerous hours spent in the library slaving over books.  Mercer earned a cantab/affiliate degree from St. John’s, focusing on sociology, psychology and politics.

“Cambridge’s system is very different from anything we have in the States,” Mercer said.  “Professors basically say ‘there are sort of vague, general topics you can study.  Go sort yourself out.”

The first major difference between Cambridge and colleges in the States is that there are no classes.

“Cambridge doesn’t believe in babying its students,” Mercer said.  “If you struggle, that’s your problem.”

Cambridge professors host lectures open to everyone on particular topics. These lectures have a general theme but are tailored according to the interest of the professor.  Students then choose which subjects they would like to specialize in and then write several essays throughout the year based on the lectures and primary readings from a course reading list.  Much of the work is done on the student’s own time.  Students are then required to meet face-to-face with a professor to discuss their essays.  There are no grades until the end of the year, making Cambridge a frantic town for the five or so weeks before exams.

One morning, Mercer found herself heading to the library after waking up at 6 a.m., something she does every morning, and was shocked to find people in the library at 7 a.m. on a Saturday morning.  Many of those students do not leave until 2 a.m on Sunday.

“One student decorated an entire corner [of the library] with pictures of his family,”  Mercer said of the study-crazed madness that sweeps over Cambridge. “Another one had pictures of Jesus.”

Academics and independence were not the only things Cambridge taught Mercer.  She also learned a thing or two from the students.  First, Halloween is every weekend.  Students don their cat ears, funny hats and superhero capes for themed costume parties called “fancy dress.”  Mercer also took up pentathlon, a sport that includes swimming, shooting, fencing, running and show jumping horses.  She even did well enough to make the

varsity team.

Mercer took full advantage of all the special events and extracurriculars St. John’s had to offer.  One week’s agenda:  Monday, wine tasting; Tuesday, cooking class; Wednesday, pentathlon practice; and all this while squeezing in school work, lectures, sleep and her many sporadic weekend

traveling adventures.

“My ultimate goal in life is to travel and write a book — the same as when I was six,” Mercer said.

Her dream of writing a book became a bit closer just this past Christmas.  Mercer came back to Nebraska and visited with journalism professor Dr. Eileen Wirth, who taught Mercer feature writing.

“She was brilliant and it is hard as a professor not to be attracted to that,”

Wirth said.

Over the years their relationship turned into a friendship, and Mercer would frequently go to Wirth for advice.

“When visiting with her this winter, she was very nervous about finding a job after graduation,” Wirth said.  “She is not one to receive a one-of-a-kind scholarship and then just sit on her laurels.”

During that same visit, they talked a lot about writing.  Dr. Wirth, having published several books herself, suggested Mercer write a book.

“I see it as a coming-of-age story with all the right ingredients,” Wirth said.

A huge smile formed on Mercer’s face because she had wanted to do this all along.

“I’d like to publish a story, a book of my life, maybe?” Mercer said. “But that seems so vain. [The stories] are in my head all the time.”

For now, Mercer has a two-year worker’s visa, and is a junior account executive for Epoch PR in London. Mercer contacts journalists, writes newsletters and other types of media as well as attending the occasional meeting outside the office.

“I like to be challenged,” Mercer said.  “I like things to be difficult sometimes so I can grow and keep myself engaged.”

Mercer, like those other illustrious Cambridge graduates, said she will continue to dream big and fulfill her lifelong dreams. She encourages others to do that as well.

“Go for it,” Mercer said.  “It’s scary and it never stops being scary.  But you only live once.”