Brown student wins a Rhodes Scholarship

RAKIM BROOKS, a member of the Class of 2009 at Brown University, is one of 32 students nationwide selected to attend Oxford University in England as Rhodes Scholars. The contest draws about 1,500 applicants per year. /
RAKIM BROOKS, a member of the Class of 2009 at Brown University, is one of 32 students nationwide selected to attend Oxford University in England as Rhodes Scholars. The contest draws about 1,500 applicants per year. /

PROVIDENCE – Brown University senior Rakim Brooks, a Bronx native with a concentration in Africana studies and ethics/political philosophy, has been selected as one of this year’s 32 Rhodes Scholars.
The annual competition – overseen by the Rhodes Trust established in 1902 by a bequest from Cecil Rhodes – divides the United States into 16 districts; two winners from each district receive the opportunity to study at the University of Oxford in England. Rhodes Scholars are chosen on the basis of “high academic achievement, integrity of character, a spirit of unselfishness, respect for others, potential for leadership and physical vigor,” the trust says.
This year’s scholars were announced on Saturday. Brooks was awarded one of two scholarships from District 1, which includes Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. The other went to Massachusetts Institute of Technology student Matthew Gethers III.
They and the other 30 winners nationwide were selected from about 1,500 applicants. Each must be endorsed by his or her school – a process that at Brown requires at least eight recommendations, four or more of which must be academic and three or more of which must be non-academic – and must submit a 1,000-word essay. Those who progress far enough also must survive two personal interviews.
“The second interview was one of the most grueling experiences of my life,” Brooks told The Brown Daily Herald. Besides his studies at Brown – where he has been active as a writing fellow, among other roles – Brooks has served as an intern at the Brookings Institution and the Center for Law and Social Policy.

Brown University is an Ivy League institution offering nearly 100 programs of study to its nearly 7,200 undergraduate, graduate and medical students. For more information, visit www.brown.edu. Information about the Rhodes Trust, its Rhodes Scholarships and the University of Oxford is available at www.rhodesscholar.org.

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