Riverdale, NY - In what may be a first, a 22 year old Orthodox girl from the Bronx was named as one of thirty two American students chosen as Rhodes Scholars for the year 2012.
Miriam Rosenbaum, a graduate of Elizabeth, New Jersey’s Bruriah High School and Jerusalem’s Michlalah College for Women is currently enrolled at Princeton University.
She told VIN News that she was shocked to receive a phone call after Shabbos informing her that she had been awarded the prestigious honor and said that she hoped to inspire other Orthodox young women to strive for great academic achievements.
Miss Rosenbaum is currently pursuing a degree in Public Policy at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School and hopes to embark on a career in health policy, specifically as an advocate for the elderly and disabled and is no stranger to working with the disabled, having spent several summers working at Camp HASC.
“I think it is important for Orthodox Jews to be involved in academic institutions and for them to be out in the real world while continuing to be outwardly frum,” Miss Rosenbaum told VIN News.
Currently Miss Rosenbaum hopes to begin a year-long masters program in bio-ethics next October at Oxford University, the second oldest university in the world and the oldest English speaking university in existence. Miss Rosenbaum’s expenses for the year will be paid for by the Rhodes Trust.
One of the most coveted awards in the academic world, the Rhodes Scholarship has been described as “the world’s most prestigious scholarship” by both Time Magazine and the Associated Press.
More than 7,000 scholarships have been awarded since the Rhodes Trust was established in 1902 with applicants between the ages of eighteen and twenty four submitting nine letters of recommendation, an essay and transcripts with demonstrating a high level of academic achievement. Approximately eighty Rhodes Scholars are selected worldwide annually.
