US students who box, skydive and help youth and asylum seekers are among 2025’s Rhodes scholars
The 32 recipients include students from 19 states and the District of Columbia attending 20 U.S. colleges and universities.
A group of 32 students from the United States have been selected to attend the University of Oxford as part of the prestigious Rhodes scholar program in the coming year among an international class representing more than 70 nations, scholarship officials announced.
The program provides scholarships covering all expenses at England’s storied university. The U.S. students include a Columbia University graduate who founded a group working to keep Brazilian youth in school; a Brown University student born in Mexico who has interviewed asylum seekers, and a Stanford University student and amateur boxer whose senior honor thesis focused on political violence in sub-Saharan Africa.
Nearly 3,000 U.S. students applied to pursue graduate degrees beginning in October 2025, the Office of the American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust in McLean, Virginia, said in a statement early Sunday.
The 32 recipients include students from 19 states and the District of Columbia attending 20 U.S. colleges and universities. During the application process, 865 students were endorsed by 243 colleges and universities. Committees in 16 U.S. districts then selected 238 finalists for interviews.
Ramona L. Doyle, American secretary of the Rhodes Trust, said in the statement that in addition to academic excellence, “a Rhodes Scholar should also have great ambition for social impact, and an uncommon ability to work with others to achieve one’s goals.”
“They should be committed to make a strong difference for good in the world, be concerned for the welfare of others, and be acutely conscious of inequities,” Doyle said.
The US scholars have eclectic interests
The Rhodes Trust touted the wide-ranging interests of the U.S. scholars.
The Stanford University amateur boxer, Kate Tully, from Sacramento, California, is completing a political science degree and mentors at-risk debate students. Fellow Stanford student Francesca Fernandes, of Saratoga, California, has taught physics to local high school students, sings soprano in an a cappella group and is an actress with the Stanford Asian American Theater Project.
At Brown University, Ariana Palomo, of McKinney, Texas, works at its Student Clinic for Immigrant Justice, and her research interests include immigration policy. She also is lead violinist for Rhode Island’s only mariachi group.
From New York, Luiza Diniz Vilanova, with a political science degree from Columbia, is CEO of Tocando em Frente, the Brazilian group working to keep kids from dropping out of school. She also serves on an international youth council for the United Nations agency for children.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology senior David Oluigbo has volunteered at a brain research institute and the National Institutes of Health, researching artificial intelligence in health care while also serving as an emergency medical technician. He’s also “DJ Chidi,” performing in shows in all genres of music, including a Halloween funk night.
Paras Bassuk has published research on child development while studying psychology at the University of Iowa and serving as a local LGBTQ+ leader and with two transgender rights groups. They also are a jazz drummer, bass guitarist and classical bassist.
Some schools have their first scholars ever
The U.S. students include the first Rhodes scholars chosen from Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia and the first from California’s Pepperdine University.
The Pepperdine student, Sean Wu, from Chino Hills, California, is a senior majoring in computer science and mathematics who also plays the tuba in the university orchestra. His research has focused on machine learning and medicine.
The Eastern Mennonite student, Meredith Lehman, of Dover, Ohio, has done research on cancer drugs funded by the National Science Foundation while majoring in biology and political science. She’s also active in the Virginia Young Democrats and provides legal services to asylum seekers.
Four recipients are from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, the most selected from the service academy in one year since 1959. One of them, Sarah Cao, from Plymouth, Minnesota, is part of a collegiate skydiving championship team at West Point.
Another U.S. Military Academy student, Gabriella Sorrentino, of Monroe, New Jersey, is a member of West Point’s boxing team and a philosophy and American history major whose research is due to appear in an upcoming book about West Point’s first black graduate.
Coe College in Iowa had its first scholarship winner in more than 53 years and North Carolina’s Davidson College placed a scholar after 25 years without one.
The Coe College student, Katherine Ameku, of Independence, Missouri, is a senior majoring in mathematics and statistics who is also Missouri’s youngest elected official. She serves as a Democratic precinct committee member.
Davidson College student Madeline Dierauf, a senior from Pisgah Forest, North Carolina, hosts weekly arts events on campus and has researched musical folk traditions. She’s also a professional fiddler and bluegrass musician.
The scholarships have a long history
The sponsorships were created in 1902 by the will of Cecil Rhodes, a founder of the diamond mining and manufacturing company De Beers. The inaugural class entered Oxford in 1903 and the first U.S. Rhodes scholars arrived the next year. Scholars pursue advanced degrees in subjects ranging from social sciences and humanities to biological and physical sciences, according to the trust.
The Rhodes scholarship is “the oldest and best-known award for international study, and arguably the most famous academic award available to American college graduates,” Doyle said.
Sunday’s announcement brings the total number of Americans selected for Rhodes scholarships to 3,674 representing 329 colleges and universities, the trust said, noting 675 U.S. women have won the scholarship despite only having been eligible to apply since 1976.
The scholarships are typically for two to three years, but may extend to four. The award covers all fees, a living expense stipend and transportion between England and the recipient’s location. The scholarship is valued at about $75,000 annually, reaching to about $250,000 for scholars who remain in their departments for four years. —- Hannon reported from Bangkok and Hanna from Topeka, Kansas.
What's Your Reaction?
