ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, November 18, 2007: Ishanaa Rambachan can talk the talk with the best of them. So not surprisingly, the former national high school speech champion and current St. Olaf College senior was confident going into a final interview with Rhodes Scholar selection committee members Saturday morning at Macalester College in St. Paul. “I was a little nervous, but I knew I was in control of the outcome,” Rambachan, 20, of Apple Valley, said. “I just tried to be mindful of my speech and be passionate.” It worked.
Rambachan, a 2004 Eastview High School graduate and the daughter of Trinidadian immigrants, was selected to be one of 32 American students to receive a prestigious Rhodes scholarship, the scholarship trust announced Sunday. Winners of the scholarships were notified Saturday after the final interviews. The scholars, selected on the basis of character, academic achievement and leadership potential, will join such past Rhodes selections as former President Bill Clinton and U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter. The scholarship provides them with two years of all-expenses-paid study at Oxford University in England and is estimated to be worth between $40,000 and $60,000 a year.
The selection has double meaning for Rambachan’s father, Anantanand Rambachan, a professor of religion, philosophy and Asian studies at St. Olaf, where he has been teaching since 1985. “My delight is special because it is a dream come true for my daughter, and my wife and I are so proud of her,” Anantanand Rambachan said. “And yet, it’s also an honor for the faculty.”