Jervon Sands, a 21-year-old from The Bahamas was chosen as a Rhodes Scholar to represent the Commonwealth Caribbean during a presentation by Barbados President Dame Sandra Mason at the State House in Barbados on Tuesday, Nov. 14.
Based at England’s University of Oxford since 1903, the Rhodes Scholarship is not only the world’s oldest graduate fellowship, but is also considered to be among the most preeminent. Its recipients include former President Bill Clinton, author Naomi Wolf and current Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, as well as winners of the Nobel Prize.
Each year, one Rhodes Scholarship is available for the Commonwealth Caribbean, which covers Anguilla, Antigua, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Montserrat, St Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Jamaican citizens are not eligible for the Scholarship for the Commonwealth Caribbean but may apply instead for the Scholarship for Jamaica.
Sands, who graduated summa cum laude from St. John’s University Collegeville, Minnesota and the College of Saint Benedict, will study for the Master of Sciences (MSc) in Environmental Change and Management, and MSc in Sustainability, Enterprise and the Environment beginning in October 2024 at Oxford.
Sands is the fourth Bahamian Rhodes Scholar. Dr. Desiree Cox was awarded the scholarship in 1987, Dr. Christian Campbell became a Rhodes Scholar in 2002, and Dr. Myron Rolle became the country’s third Rhodes Scholar in 2009. Dr. Rolle, a former professional football player in the NFL, currently is a neurosurgery resident at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.