2 students with N.J. ties named Rhodes Scholars

A University of Georgia honor student from Monmouth County and a Princeton University student from Michigan were among this year's winners of the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship.

PRINCETON -- A Princeton University student and a University of Georgia student from Monmouth County are among 32 Americans selected this year for one of the world's most prestigious scholarships.

Laura Courchesne, a University of Georgia senior from Fair Haven, and Aaron Robertson, a Princeton University senior from Michigan, were named Rhodes Scholars Sunday. They will both receive full scholarships for post-graduate studies at Oxford University in England next fall.

More than 2,500 students applied for the scholarship this year, according to the Rhodes Trust, which oversees the program. The scholarship is worth about $68,000 per year, with some students staying at Oxford as many as four years to complete graduate degrees.

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"This year, women constituted 53 percent of the applicant pool -- the first time in the history of the Rhodes Scholarships that more women than men applied," the Rhodes Trust announcement said.

Courchesne, is majoring in economics and religion at the University of Georgia. She has "a perfect academic record" at the school, Rhodes officials said.

University of Georgia student Laura Courchesne, of Fair Haven, was named a Rhodes Scholar. (University of Georgia photo) 

She has done research on conflict and peacekeeping at Oxford, Princeton and the U.S. Army War College and interned with the International Red Cross and the Carter Center. She has also conducted fieldwork related to terrorism in Bali. She is working on a thesis on the impact of American drone strikes in conflict zones.

Courchesne plans to earn a master's in social anthropology, followed by a master's in politics research while at Oxford.

"I am fascinated with what influences non-violent populations to begin endorsing and engaging in violence, the strength of social bonds within violent organizations, how resources shape organizational structure and the types of relationships non-state armed groups form with civilians," Courchesne said in a release from her university. "There is an unseen human aspect to war and conflict that I aim to discover."

University of Georgia President Jere Morehead said the school is proud of Courchesne.

"Her outstanding record at the university made this award possible, and her research interests have the potential to impact the world around us," Morehead said in a statement.

Robertson, who is majoring in Italian at Princeton, is editor-in-chief of the school's Nassau Literary Review. He has also written for the Detroit Metro Times and The Daily Princetonian and published a one-act play. His research at Princeton focuses on Afro-Italian literature. He plans to become a journalist.

Princeton University student Aaron Robertson was named a Rhodes Scholar. (Princeton University | Aaron Robertson photo) 

At Oxford, Robertson plans to earn a master's degree in modern languages.

Robertson said he learned he won the scholarship while waiting with other candidates from his district in Chicago while the Rhodes committee deliberated.

"I called my best friend from home first. We'd talked about applying for post-grad opportunities -- including the Rhodes -- for years. It was odd and satisfying to watch a dream materialize," Robertson said, according to a release from Princeton.

John McPhee, a Princeton professor and a Pulitzer Prize winner, said Robertson took his "Creative Non-Fiction" class.

"In or beyond the classroom, Aaron does everything 100 percent -- whether he is putting online the entire century-and-three-quarters of the Nassau Literary Review, or writing detached, agnostic prose about childhood visits with his grandmother to Duns Scotus College (in Michigan) for religious instruction," McPhee said.

More than 2,000 Americans have received Rhodes Scholarships since the program was created in 1902 by a British philanthropist. Notable Rhodes Scholars include President Bill Clinton, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), former Sen. Bill Bradley, actor Kris Kristofferson, Gov. Bobby Jindal and television hosts Rachel Maddow and George Stephanopoulos.