If you want to work on your inferiority complex over break, check out the SEVEN (7) American Yale students who were awarded Rhodes scholarships. These are some remarkably cool achievements…
- Jennifer M. Bright, DC ’13, New York, NY — An EP&E major concentrating in Urban studies. EIC of the Yale Undergraduate Law Review, has received academic recognition from the national Kappa Kappa Gamma organization, has stuff to say about campus crime emails.
- David M. Carel, PC ’13, Penn Valley, PA — An Econ major who’s fluent in Zulu and Hebrew and is a serious advocate in HIV/AIDS-related matters. Despite his varied achievements — the Rhodes profile notes that he “co-founded an education technology start-up and performs as lead drummer in a West African dance troup and as an instructor in Rukdan Israeli dancing“ — his parents wish he’d be “more respectful.”
- Rhiana E. Gunn-Wright SY ’11, Oak Lawn, IL — An Af-Am/WGSS major whose senior thesis won awards from both departments. Now working at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research in Washington, DC. On her Facebook, she remarks, “i love blaring horns on friday nights, good writing, & hip-hop.” Sounds fair to us.
- Micah A. Johnson, TC ’13, Canton, OH — An MB&B major who, according to the Trumbull Froco profiles, has “also taken so many “fun” classes about the brain that he may accidentally end up with a second major in Psychology.” Won the Hunt Lyman prize, and has conducted research in Ghana. The Trumbull froco website says that he also “enjoys sports, the outdoors, and the idea of reading,” but neglects to mention that he’s a “professional magician and was the international junior champion in close-up magic.”
- Catherine Laporte-Oshiro, CC ’13, Larkspur, CA — An EP&E major focused on Chinese state capitalism. Not only is she “team captain of the Yale Fed Challenge Team, analyzing the state of the U.S. economy,” but she’s been a valuable player to the Calhoun IM Volleyball team, noted for her capacity to “spike… volleyballs into her opponents’ faces.”
- Benjamine Y. Liu TC ’12, Westlake Village, CA — Bio major at Yale, currently at Cambridge on a Mellon Fellowship. Other achievements include a Goldwater Scholarship and “Yale College’s highest honor, the Alpheus Henry Snow prize, for intellectual achievement and character.” Did a really cool project on musical education in L.A. county jails.
- Dakota E. McCoy, BR ’13, Wexford, PA — Triple threat: EEB major who has researched ecology, primate cognition and evolutionary biology, javelin-thrower/hurdle-jumper for the track team (in Yale’s top 10 of all time for each), and in Whim’n'Rhythm. Winner of Yale’s Gordon Brown Prize. Once “discovered several strange skulls… that were classified as rodent-like.” If you want to find her, she “eats exclusively in the Branford Dining Hall (it is, after all, the best) and is always eager to discuss the splendid portraits that adorn its walls.
This is huge. Congrats to the winners! And if you felt unsatisfied with the outcome of The Game, consider something the Rhodes Foundation announcement suggests about H/Y superiority: Seven students from Yale won the Rhodes this year, and only* six did from Harvard. Who’s the winner now?**
* This feels ridiculous.
** Note: zero students from Princeton won the Rhodes this year. For the record, though, they did beat both Yale and Harvard at football.
