On Saturday morning, Mary-Dan Johnston was trying to figure out “the right thing to say” to the Maritime Rhodes Scholarship committee.
She walked into the interview at 11:15 a.m. thinking it would be “really intense.” Johnston – who is pursuing an interdisciplinary major in globalization and justice – discovered the committee just wanted to hear more about who she was.
“I guess they liked me,” Johnston said in an interview Sunday evening.
At 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Johnston got a call telling her she had won the Rhodes Scholarship, a $100,000 award that pays for a post-graduate degree at the University of Oxford.
The interviews were in Charlottetown, P.E.I., and Johnston was driving back to Fredericton when she got the call. She and her mother were about to pull onto the off-ramp in Dieppe.
“The chair of the committee started off with just a bit of conversation. He sounded happy to talk to me and then said, ‘I have some exciting news for you.’
“My mom could hear what he was saying and gears started to turn in my head. I was staring ahead at the road and I could hear my mom start to sob as she pulled to the side of the road.”
St. Thomas University has had two Rhodes scholars – Matthew Carpenter-Arévalo in 2003 and Stephen Brosha in 2007. Each year, scholarships are awarded to 11 Canadian students with a GPA of at least 3.75.
Rhodes scholars must also be wellrounded students involved in extracurricular activities like sports and volunteer work.
The 22-year-old said she was approached by professors at STU to apply and sent her application in for Sept. 28. She found out on Nov. 10 she had gotten an interview. About 50 Maritime students usually apply and this year, 11 were interviewed.
But Johnston said she never thought it might become a reality when she was working on the application.
“Just last week I was in Toronto visiting York University. I was looking at lots of grad programs in Canada. I never thought it would be the United Kingdom.”
Johnston spent a year in a Cape Breton community helping people with developmental disabilities, has been active on campus with the students’ union, is an avid musician and is on STU’s cross country team.
Another Maritimer, Rebecca Dixon from Mount Allison University, was also named a Rhodes Scholar.
The Rhodes Scholarship has been awarded to undergraduate students in the British Commonwealth since 1902. It was named after Cecil Rhodes, founder of diamond company De Beers.
