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Univ. Of Pennsylvania Women's Rowing Team Member Wins Rhodes Scholarship

By Matt Leon

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- This year's recipients of Rhodes Scholarships were recently announced. One of the 32 students chosen from the United States is from the University of Pennsylvania.

Jenna Hebert is a senior at Penn who will pursue a Master's degree in Psychiatry at the University of Oxford in England as a Rhodes Scholar. Hebert says pursuit of a Rhodes Scholarship has been on her radar since her freshman year at Penn and she actually started the application process about six months ago. She talks about finding out her dream would be realized.

"I think that's the coolest part of the process is that I found out in person. All of the candidates from my district, we were in the waiting room for about 12 hours waiting for the panel to decide. At the end of the day they came in and told us and we all hugged and it was pretty cool," said Hebert.

In addition to her impressive academic work, Hebert also is a key member of the women's rowing team at Penn.

"Honestly, I think that rowing has been essential to my success as a student. I always tell people that when you have a two or three hour practice in the morning and you're exhausted, I feel like I can tackle anything else in the day. That anything else feels manageable compared to that," said Hebert.

Hebert is the University of Pennsylvania's 22nd Rhodes Scholar.

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