Tara Westover stood on the rooftop of the world-famous Kings College Chapel in Cambridge, England, taking in the view of the entire city. In the air was a mixture of awe and sadness. It was a time of questioning, a time for saying goodbye.

For the past few months, Tara had been enchanted by the narrow cobblestone streets, too small for cars to drive down. She couldn't help but take up jogging. It was too beautiful not to. She'd learned to love the monastic, Harry-Potter like atmosphere at the university where the typical divides between academic life, social life and church life melted away.

Little did she know, this moment-at the end of her study abroad experience at Cambridge-would not be the last time she looked out at the university. Little did she know, Cambridge was to be her future.

Growing up in Idaho with six older siblings, Westover did a lot of playing outside. Farming was more of a family hobby than a means of earning a living, but they grew different crops and had different animals nonetheless.

One of Westover's older brothers went to BYU, the only sibling to do so. He encouraged her to seriously consider getting a college education.

"It had never occurred to me that I could do well," Westover said.

She came to Provo young. Her 17-year-old self thought she wanted a career in music, but after taking American Heritage with Professor Richard Kimball, Westover decided that history might be a better fit. She worked as a teaching assistant for American Heritage classes and as research assistant. One-on-one time with professors suited Tara.

"You have them cornered and you can ask them anything," she said.

Professor Paul Kerry recognized that Westover worked well with professors, but also felt comfortable disagreeing with them at times.

"She has opinions and takes a stand," Kerry said.

It was in his History of Germany class that Kerry noticed Westover's potential. The class required steady essay writing throughout the semester.

When she submitted her first assignment, Tara didn't get the grade she wanted. She immediately came to Kerry and asked what she could do to improve.

"She has a competitive streak within her," Kerry said. "It gives her a kind of energy."

Westover was the kind of student who did some of the assignments for a class she was auditing, just because she wanted to. She was the kind of student who wrote 15-20 pages when only 10 were required.

"She was bursting with ideas," Kerry said.

During her study abroad at Cambridge University, Westover enjoyed more close-knit work with professors through the British system, which supplements lecture classes with one-on-one teacher-pupil studies.

"I really can't think of anything I didn't like about Cambridge," Westover said.

Audrey Bastian barely knew Westover when they moved in together last fall, but they quickly became close. Bastian vividly remembers one morning shortly after they became roommates when Westover ran into her bedroom, woke her up and said "Audrey! Audrey! You have to watch the presidential debate! How will we discuss it if you don't?"

Westover inspired Bastian to renew her subscription to The Economist.

"I have to keep up with things just so I can talk to her," Bastian said.

When Westover applied for the Gates Scholarship in October, she wasn't expecting much. Only 45 students in the country receive the scholarship, many of them from Ivy League schools. The news that she was short-listed came as a surprise.

They told me that they'd like to fly me out, talk to me and scare me to death," Westover said.

Before her interview in Annapolis, Tara went to Park City with her roommates to pick out a suit. Her friends were excited to be part of the process.

After trying on a few, they narrowed it down to two choices. One was feminine and frilly; the other was simple and classic. Westover chose the latter.

"It may seem silly, but I thought her choice was really telling about her personality," Bastian said. "She doesn't want to be overstated. She's going for a prestigious interview, she's clearly very intelligent, yet she wanted to remain comfortable and stay herself."

A couple of days before Westover flew out for her interview, she sat on the bed with Bastian and talked candidly about her feelings about the future.

"It was important to Tara to not get so wrapped up in academics," Bastian said. "She wants to use what she knows to help people."

With her acceptance to graduate school at Cambridge in the fall, and her receipt of the highly competitive $37,000 scholarship from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in February, Westover plans to study intellectual history and political thought. She sees a PhD in her future at some point, but for now has Washington Seminar to think about before heading back to England.

"She didn't set out with the Gates Scholarship in mind as a goal," Kerry said. "It shows that you don't need to be hot-housed into these kinds of things."

For Westover, the "implausibility of it all" is striking. She insists that by her own assessment and by her professors' assessments during her first three years at BYU, every other student in the classroom was just as, if not more likely to be a Gates recipient than she was.

"Be careful about how you let people assess you," Westover said. "Chances are... they are probably wrong."

Copyright Brigham Young University 6 May 2008