32 Students in U.S. Selected as Rhodes Scholars

Athletes, would-be politicians, scientists and aspiring journalists were among 32 students from 21 colleges who were named Sunday as U.S. recipients of Rhodes Scholarships to study in England.

The winners will join an international group of students from 18 countries chosen to study for two or three years at Oxford University, said David Alexander, American secretary of the Rhodes Scholarship Trust.

Ninety-six finalists were chosen from 1,288 applicants for the prestigious scholarships. They were interviewed in regional competitions Saturday for the final selection of 12 women and 20 men.

“I was absolutely astonished and spinning” when the award was announced, said Benjamin Sherwood, a Harvard University senior from Beverly Hills. “I think it’s going to take a few days to decompress.”

Sherwood, a U.S. government and history major who plans to be a journalist, worked on the Thai-Cambodian border as a member of a United Nations relief team.

The other winner from California was Radcliffe student Bonnie Saint John of National City, who lost a leg when she was 5 but who has won 14 medals in national ski competitions. She won a bronze medal in slalom and giant slalom at the handicapped Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.

The interviews included “a lot of probing and looking for a wealth of knowledge,” said Wrenn Wooten, 21, of Little Rock. “For example, they asked me who was the first person to climb Mt. McKinley, about supply-side economics, Einstein’s theory of relativity, the Yalta Conference and the war between Iran and Iraq.”

Wooten, a senior at the University of the South at Sewanee, Tenn., said he would pursue a doctorate in physical biochemistry at Oxford.

The Rhodes Scholarships were established in 1902 by Cecil John Rhodes, a British politician and diamond baron. They are awarded on the basis of intellectual attainment, character, leadership and physical vigor. Seventy-two Rhodes Scholars are chosen each year, and 2,436 have been named since the scholarship program began.

Princeton University and Radcliffe College of Harvard University boasted the most winners at four each, followed by Stanford University with three. Harvard and the University of Notre Dame had two each.

The winners included 13 students majoring in the sciences, the highest number of scientists chosen in recent years. At least five planned to be journalists.