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 Among the 32 American University students who won the 2010 Rhodes Scholarships, five are from area colleges. Students who won this prestigious scholarship include Haverford College graduate Andrew Lanham, senior from the University of Delaware Matthew Watters and Ursinus College graduate Aakash Shah.

They will all be joined at the University of Oxford in England by Princeton senior Nicholas DiBernadino and Princeton University graduate Mark Jia. Shah is presently enrolled with the Harvard Medical School after graduating in neuroscience, biology and inequality studies from the Ursinus in May.

This Cliffside Park, NJ native was a track runner in Ursinus and worked in Mexico with the United Students against Sweatshops. He also visited the slums of India to study environmental health issues there. He is the first Rhodes Scholar from Ursinus and plans on studying comparative social policy at Oxford.

With minors in political science and majors in neuroscience, Newark, Del’s Watters has worked in hospitals in Haiti and South Sudan. He founded a relief student organization to work in Haiti. This mountain biker will study global health science in Oxford.

Native of Ohio, Lanham studied philosophy and English at Haverford. He was the honor council head in his college and was the cross country team captain. Interning at the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, Lanham is presently a resident tutor in Lower Merion schools’ non-profit program aimed at serving minority underprivileged students. He will be studying English at Oxford.
Jia is a Chinese native from Waltham, Mass. Currently he teaches constitutional history and American politics at the China Foreign Affairs University, Beijing to aspiring diplomats. He interned in the late Sen. Edward Kennedy’s office for Alliance for Justice and was the Students for Obama national field director. He aims at being a part of the democratic China’s constitution drafting process and will thereby study politics in Oxford.

Rhodes scholarship is one of the oldest and well known international study awards according to the American secretary of the trust Elliot F. Gerson. For American college graduates, this is definitely one of the most popular and prestigious academic awards.

This award was initiated after the death of Cecil Rhode’s in the year 1902. He was an African colonial pioneer and British philanthropist. Rhodes’ dream was to produce scholars who do their public duties with great commitment and sincereity. Winners for this scholarship are chosen based on qualities such as character integrity, academic achievement, respect for others, unselfish spirit, physical vigor and leadership potential.

In order to apply for this prestigious prize, at least 1500 students seek university or college endorsement every year. This year, over 309 universities and colleges has endorsed a total of 837 students. International students from 14 countries will be joining the American Rhodes Scholars. From around the world, at least 80 scholars are chosen for this scholarship.

Annually Rhodes offers $50,000 as scholarship to deserving scholars. All university and college fees and transportation to and from England are paid by the prize apart from a stipend.