December 2025 Scholar Accolades
Florence Onyiuke (2022) and Sophia Wang (2020) have been named 2026 Rhodes Scholars.
The Rhodes Scholarship is a fully-funded postgraduate award which enables talented young people from around the world to study full-time at the University of Oxford. The Rhodes Scholarship is merit-based, with the purpose of developing public-spirited leaders, and to promote international understanding and peace through an international community of Scholars. 32 Rhodes Scholarships are available to students in the United States each year.
"Florence N. Onyiuke, Altamonte Springs, is a senior at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is completing a dual degree in International Studies and Business through the Huntsman Program. Her senior thesis focuses on the informal economy and socioeconomic mobility and is based on ethnographic interviews that she conducted in Spanish with West African street vendors and scrap metal collectors in Barcelona. Florence Directs Black Wharton Consulting with a focus on using local data to improve business outcomes for Black-owned businesses and nonprofits in West Philadelphia and has interned at J.P. Morgan and McKinsey & Company. At Oxford, she intends to pursue an M.Sc. in African Studies with a focus on economic development."
"Sophia J. Wang, Woodbridge, received a B.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2024. Sophia currently works in the country of Bhutan, leading a sustainability policy taskforce. She is also a founding researcher at a new laboratory in Japan and a research associate at a venture capital fund focused on space technologies. During the summer following her graduation from MIT, she cycled more than 4,000 miles as part of MIT Spokes, a program that runs learning festivals across the country. At Oxford, she intends to complete an M.Sc. in Mathematical and Theoretical Physics followed by an M.Sc. in Global Governance and Diplomacy."
Alina Wilson (2019) and Kashish Bastola (2022) were awarded Marshall Scholarships.
Marshall Scholarships finance young Americans of high ability to study for a degree in the United Kingdom. Up to 50 Scholars are selected each year to study at graduate level at an UK institution in any field of study.
"Alina Wilson, awarded in 2025, is a graduate of Stanford University, where she earned an honors degree in Human Biology in 2024. She has contributed to infectious disease and public health projects in Switzerland, Taiwan, South Africa, Chile, and the United States, including founding the V.O.I.C.E.S. Project, a grant-funded service organization dedicated to reducing COVID-19 vaccination disparities among Oklahoma’s Black community. Alina has contributed to global health initiatives alongside several prominent organizations, including Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; the Gates Foundation; Doctors Without Borders (MSF); and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
"As a Marshall Scholar, Alina aims to pursue an MSc in Control of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a Master of Public Policy at Oxford. She intends to leverage her studies in the United Kingdom to become a physician advocate and public health leader."
"Kashish Bastola, awarded in 2026 and a Harvard senior from McKinney, Texas, studies histories of the U.S. Gulf South and the Himalaya. His senior thesis unravels a little-known CIA operation in the 1960s that trained Tibetan refugees on U.S. campuses and abandoned military bases. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa, he was awarded Harvard’s Paton Prize in the Humanities, recognizing the senior showing greatest promise in the humanities or fine arts.
"A Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow and Mississippi Delta Scholar, Kashish has worked on oral history and curatorial projects with the Harvard Forest, the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, the National Park Service, and the South Asian American Digital Archive. He has served as an intern at the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and the Supreme Court of Nepal. Kashish cherishes teaching civics to fifth-graders in South Boston, film photography, playing the violin, and doodling henna designs on friends.
"Kashish looks forward to two years at the University of Oxford as a Marshall Scholar studying military history."
Content originally posted on the Marshall Scholarship website.
Swathi Srinivasan (2017) won the PD Soros Fellowship and is back at Harvard for her PhD in Population Health.
The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans invests in the graduate education of 30 New Americans - immigrants and children of immigrants - who are poised to make significant contributions to US society, culture or their academic field. Each Fellow receives up to $90,000 in financial support over two years, and they join a lifelong community of New American Fellows.
"While working towards her undergraduate degree at Harvard, Swathi Srinivasan focused on understanding the origins and impacts of inequity and injustice on health outcomes, particularly among people who use drugs and people living with, or at risk for, HIV/AIDS. Swathi conducted research on the overdose crisis response in Ohio and Portugal with sociologist Theda Skocpol and historian Allan Brandt, respectively. Swathi also explored health equity efforts through internships at various levels of government, including at the UN and the White House.
"Swathi’s research work accompanied her interest in public advocacy. When a young adult overdosed fatally on the steps of a campus cafe, Swathi worked with fellow students to found HCOPES, Harvard College Overdose Prevention and Education Students, which continues to educate community members on overdose prevention and has proposed, and is now implementing state-wide legislation on public-access to naloxone. Upon graduating, Swathi was selected as a Rhodes Scholar, where she completed an MPhil in history of science, medicine, and technology, researching US involvement in South Africa’s HIV/AIDS response. After completing the MPhil, Swathi received a year-long grant from the Rhodes Trust to document the global overdose response, which brought her to over fifteen countries in four continents.
"Currently, Swathi is an AmeriCorps Fellow in overdose prevention at Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, where she supports unhoused people through harm reduction, health education, and case management."
Content originally posted on the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans website.
Yosh Miller (2005) is presenting his company, Hadley, at the NBA Foundation's All Star Pitch Competition Finals at the Kia Forum in February 2026 during the NBA All-Stars Game weekend after progressing as a Semifinalist and Finalist.
The theme of the competition is Game Changers: Creators Building the Future, spotlighting LA entrepreneurs driving social and economic mobility.
Hadley helps families find and fund their most beneficial way to save for school, so parents can quickly link their 529 plan to their Hadley account and make it easy for others to contribute.
Alumni News
November 2025 Scholar Accolades
Accolades featuring Coke Scholars Linda Yao (2006), Dr. Scott Hale (2004), Brandon Cardet-Hernandez (2003), Leia Schwartz (2014), TJ Abrams (2001), and Olivia Sally (2020).
August 2025 Scholar Accolades
Celebrating Crystal Sanders (2001), Lydia Hollon (2017), Mukta Dharmapurikar (2022), Shiva Rajbhandari (2023), Cordelia Van der Veer (2022), Joelle Murchison (1991), David Spicer (2019), Nzinga Tull (1993),
July 2025 Scholar Accolades
Coke Scholar Accolades featuring Natosha Reid Rice (1989), Ariona Cook (2023), Vivian Nguyen (2023), Nathan Alexander (2003), & Talia Fradkin (2016).