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2 Pennsylvania Students, 1 New Jersey Student Among Latest Rhodes Scholars

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PHILADELPHIA (CBS/AP) — One student from New Jersey and two students from Pennsylvania are among the latest group of U.S. Rhodes scholars heading to Oxford University in England next fall.

Harvard senior Brittany Ellis, University of Pennsylvania senior Anea Moore, and United States Naval Academy senior Margaret Dods have been named as three of the 32 people to be Rhodes scholars.

"I'm still in a bit of shock, trying to process different emotions," said Harvard senior Brittany Ellis, of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, who was on a summer program at Oxford in 2013. "I'm so honored and privileged."

Ellis has spent the last two summers in Jordan, first studying Arabic and then working on an archaeological dig. Currently studying social anthropology and archaeology, she will study visual, material and museum studies at Oxford, with hopes of entering the anthropology doctoral program and eventually working in museums.

"I'm really passionate about using cultural materials ... in more accessible and socially responsible ways," she said.

Also a reporter and news executive at the Harvard Crimson, she manages Harvard's largest intramural crew program and serves as captain and coxswain of her crew. She said she's looking forward to having access to all of the museums and other cultural resources in the area and would also love to stay involved in a crew program as coxswain.

Officials say Moore, of Philadelphia, is studying law and minoring in Africana Studies and is co-president of a nonprofit serving low-income college students. Researching issues related to gentrification, race, class, and family engagement and well-being, at Oxford, she plans to pursue degrees in evidence-based social intervention and in comparative international education.

Margaret H. Dods, of Linwood, is a senior at the United States Naval Academy where she majors in English and Arabic. Maggie has maintained a perfect grade point average. At the Naval Academy, she serves as a Battalion Commander, leading 750 of her peers. Maggie connects her intensive study of the Middle East and its culture to a more textured formulation of foreign policy in the region. She has completed three marathons and is currently training for commission into the United States Marine Corps. At Oxford, Maggie will do the M.Phil. in Modern Middle Eastern Studies.

The Rhodes Trust on Sunday announced the 32 men and women chosen from a group of 880 applicants endorsed by 281 U.S. colleges and universities for studies beginning next fall at Oxford University in England.

The organization says this is the first year of eligibility for the scholarship for those covered by an Obama-era program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, that shields young immigrants from deportation, and that a DACA recipient from Harvard is a new Rhodes scholar.

(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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