Student Accolade - Sko Embry '05, University Scholar, Baylor Interdisciplinary Core

He likes knights, castles and kings, and he spent a week at Oxford in August, but Sko Embry is not a medieval studies scholar. He's a chess player. In a big way. And when he graduates this summer, he will have left his mark on campus -- a 400-square-foot chessboard on the lawn next to the Baylor Sciences Building. 
Embry presented the idea to Rick Creel in 2002 after a trip to Europe where Embry noticed playing chess in parks was popular. Creel, assistant vice president for operation and facilities, is responsible for developing a campus landscape plan, and he liked the concept presented by the Georgetown, Texas, native.
"It's infinitely complex, and the head-to-head competition is great -- just one mind against another mind. It's kind of a rush," says Embry, who helped start a Baylor Chess Club last year, which now has about 10 participants and meets Wednesday evenings. He even envisions Diadeloso chess tournaments. 
As a University Scholar in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core, mathematics has occupied most of his time, but along the path of square roots and logarithms, he has discovered a passion for philosophy. "I'm getting away from the pure logic of math toward the more complex richness of continental philosophy. It's sort of admitting there's mystery to life, to human nature," he says. 
This fall, Embry moved into the North Village Residential Community in his second year as a community leader for Campus Living & Learning. The facility is the first new residence hall built at Baylor in 40 years and houses up to 600 students. 
As he completes his senior year, Embry hopes to pursue his education at graduate school. He says his participation in BIC piqued his intellectual curiosity, and he's also appreciated the benefits of being educated at a Christian institution. 
"The fact that my professors and scholars are Christians is a big plus for my education," he says. "Baylor is a place where I can develop my thoughtful Christianity without being assaulted on all sides by liberalism. I think that's definitely something that I'll take with me."