5 students with ties to state are named Rhodes scholars

Thirty-two men and women from across the United States have been selected as Rhodes Scholars for 2007, including five students with ties to California.

The scholars were selected from 896 applicants endorsed by 340 colleges and universities. The scholarships, announced Sunday, are the oldest of the international study awards available to American students and provide two or three years of study. The students will enter Oxford University in England in October.

The California scholars:

* Roxanne Genevieve Quist of Santa Monica studied industrial and labor relations at Cornell University. She has mentored at-risk youths and counseled survivors of sexual abuse.

* Julie Veroff of Fresno, a senior at Stanford University majoring in international relations, has done volunteer work on behalf of women’s and refugees’ rights in Nicaragua, Ghana and Zambia.

* Jacob E. Lemieux of New York City, a senior at Stanford, majors in biochemistry and plans to pursue a doctorate at Oxford in the same field.

* Ginger Turner of Galveston, Texas, graduated from Stanford with a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s in management science and engineering.

* Leana S. Wen of St. Louis, who is scheduled to graduate from medical school next spring, entered college at Cal State L.A. at 13. She is now studying at the Washington University School of Medicine.

Rhodes scholarships were created in 1902 by the will of British philanthropist Cecil Rhodes. Winners are selected on the basis of high academic achievement, personal integrity, leadership potential and physical vigor, among other attributes.