A group of standout students has emerged as winners of the 2026 Rhodes Scholarship, with awards being presented to 32 Americans this past Sunday. Among this distinguished group are five students from U.S. military academies and three from each of the prestigious Yale University, Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The chosen scholars represent a variety of fields and interests, signaling a commitment to address some of the pressing issues of our time. Their projects focus on areas such as housing, health outcomes, sustainability, and prison reentry programs.
Among the awardees, notable figures include Alice L. Hall from Philadelphia, a varsity athlete and student government leader at MIT, who has worked with a women's collective in Ghana on sustainability initiatives and aims to study engineering. Sydney E. Barta from Arlington, Virginia, is a Paralympian and Stanford University student active in bioengineering and acapella, aspiring to delve into musculoskeletal sciences. Anirvin Puttur, a senior at the U.S. Air Force Academy from Gilbert, Arizona, is not only an instructor pilot and flight commander but also has a passion for linguistics, being proficient in four languages, while studying aeronautical engineering and applied mathematics.
This year's winners will pursue graduate studies at the University of Oxford through the Rhodes scholar program, which awards more than 100 scholarships globally each year. Established in 1903 and named after imperialist and benefactor Cecil John Rhodes, this prestigious scholarship has fostered over 8,000 alumni, many of whom currently hold influential positions in government, academia, the arts, and social justice initiatives.
