Lawrence resident named Rhodes Scholar

Hopatcong Drive resident Sasha-Mae Eccleston, who graduated from The Lawrenceville School and now attends Brown University, will pursue a graduate degree at Oxford University in England.

By: David Campbell Packet Group
   A Lawrence resident and a Princeton University English major and novelist are among the 32 Americans selected as Rhodes Scholars this year, the Rhodes Trust announced Saturday.
   Sasha-Mae Eccleston, who is a senior at Brown University, where she is studying Greek and Latin, was among the 32 Americans chosen this year. She is the daughter of Lucetta and Norman Eccleston of Hopatcong Drive.
   The Rhodes Scholars were chosen from among 903 applicants who were endorsed by 333 colleges and universities.
   Ms. Eccleston, who graduated from The Lawrenceville School in 2002, also studies the literary arts. She is devoted to rock and reggae music, and wishes to merge her Caribbean background with her poetry, according to the trust, which administers the program.
   She also co-founded a discussion group that connects black undergraduates from across the Ivy League. As part of the scholarship, Ms. Eccleston will pursue a master’s degree in Greek and Latin at Oxford University in England.
   At The Lawrenceville School , she was active in the Harlem Renaissance Group, the Alliance of Black Cultures, and as a campus volunteer with New Jersey SEEDS, an organization that helps prepare urban youth to attend private college preparatory schools, according to the school’s Web site.
   Ms. Eccleston also was a recipient of a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, which seeks to increase diversity among the faculty ranks in higher education by "identifying and supporting students of great promise," according to the prep school’s Web site.
   A native of Jamaica, Ms. Eccleston moved to Lawrence with her family from Camden in 1998, the same year she entered The Lawrenceville School, according to the school’s Web site.
   Princeton senior Jeffrey A. Miller also will join the international group of roughly 85 people chosen from around the world to travel to England and attend the University of Oxford in October as Rhodes Scholars.
   Mr. Miller, a Texas native, majors in English at Princeton and is pursuing a certificate in creative writing. He is at work on a novel, according to the trust, which administers the program.
   He serves as an officer of the Ivy Club at Princeton and is a member of the Human Values Forum. He played junior varsity basketball and has interned at publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux. He plans to study English at Oxford, and pursue a career as a writer and professor, the trust said.
   Mr. Miller was unavailable for comment Monday.
   In addition to the 32 from the United States, scholars come from countries including Australia, Canada, Germany, India, Jamaica, Kenya, and Pakistan, among others.
   Rhodes Scholarships provide two to three years of study at Oxford. The scholarship, established in 1902 by the estate of British philanthropist Cecil Rhodes, is the oldest for international study available to American students. The first class of American Rhodes Scholars entered Oxford in 1904.
   Including those named on Saturday, 3,078 Americans have won Rhodes Scholarships, representing 307 colleges and universities. Women have been eligible since 1976. A total of 369 American women have been named to date.
   The value of the Rhodes Scholarship varies depending on the academic field, the degree and the Oxford college chosen. The Rhodes Trust pays all college and university fees, provides a stipend for expenses while at Oxford, and covers transportation to and from England. The total value is approximately $40,000 per year, the trust said.
   Candidates must first be endorsed by their college and as a representative of the state where they live or attend school. Selection committees from 16 regional districts then choose the strongest applicants to appear before them for an interview.
   Applicants are chosen based on criteria set forth in Mr. Rhodes’ will, including high academic achievement, integrity of character, potential for leadership and physical vigor. Mr. Rhodes wrote that scholars should "esteem the performance of public duties as their highest aim," the trust said.
   The district committees met separately on Friday and Saturday in cities across the country. Each committee made a final selection of two scholars from among the candidates of the states within the district.
   A total of 216 applicants from 99 different colleges and universities reached the final stage of the selection process, the trust said.
   Including Mr. Miller, Princeton has had 186 U.S.-born winners of Rhodes Scholarships since 1904, said university spokesman Eric Quinones.