Lincoln sends two to Rhodes interviews
The e-mails came on Halloween. “On the basis of our preliminary examination of your credentials,” it said, “the District XIV Selection Committee for the Rhodes Scholarships would like to invite you to interview with us.”
Nebraska Wesleyan senior Xuan-Trang Ho thought it was SPAM, a joke someone was playing on her. Then it sunk in and she squealed and ran to find her mother to give her a big hug.
Recent University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate Garth Glissman opened his e-mail at 6 p.m. in Salisbury, Conn., where he is teaching history and coaching football at a private boys school.
His first thought was to call his mom, Susan Glissman, his “biggest supporter and inspiration,” at her job in Lincoln.
Both Ho and Glissman will interview Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa, for the opportunity to be Rhodes Scholars. They join 16 other finalists in their district and a total of 256 nationwide who will interview for the coveted 32 Rhodes Scholarships, and a chance to attend Oxford University for two to three years.
Two will be selected from each district. Ho and Glissman know that Saturday’s interviews will be intellectually grueling, and they want to make their universities proud.
“Maybe it’s the football player in me, but I’m taking the approach that I haven’t accomplished anything yet,” said Glissman, a three-sport athlete at Waverly High School and former Husker quarterback who played behind Jammal Lord and Joe Dailey. “It’s the old ‘taking one game at a time’ adage. I’m focused on the task at hand.”
UNL’s last Rhodes Scholar — Jeremy Vetter — was selected in 1996. Vetter, 30, has a PhD. from the University of Pennsylvania and is studying in Berlin on a post-doctoral fellowship at Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, said his father, the Rev. Jay Vetter. His Rhodes Scholarship resulted in two master’s degrees from Oxford, his father said.
A Wesleyan student was last awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in 1913.
Finalists for the scholarship are chosen on the basis of the criteria set down in Cecil Rhodes’ will. They must be high academic achievers, have integrity of character, a spirit of unselfishness, respect for others, potential for leadership, and physical vigor.
The characteristics fulfill Rhodes's hopes that those chosen would make an effective and positive contribution throughout the world and would value the performance of public duties as their highest aim.
Ho, whose family immigrated to Lincoln from Vietnam when she was 10, was a high achiever at Lincoln High and then at Wesleyan. A political science and Spanish major, she maintains a 3.99 grade point average, is highly involved in college and community activities and has traveled extensively.
This year she received a $30,000 Harry S. Truman Scholarship for graduate school. She wants a career in international affairs and dreams about someday being the U.S. secretary of state.
Glissman graduated from UNL with highest distinction with a 3.98 grade point average. He won several history and political science awards, including the Glenn Gray Memorial Award, given annually to the outstanding UNL history undergraduate. In the community, he worked with disadvantaged youth. He gave motivational speeches to more than 25,000 Nebraskans in his final two years of college.
His dream is to run for elected office, to serve his home state of Nebraska, he said.
Both finalists are quick to give credit for getting this close to a Rhodes Scholarship to the professors and supporters at their universities.
Wesleyan political science chair Kelly Eaton has worked closely with Ho and encouraged her since she enrolled there.
“I have developed really healthy relationships with my professors,” Ho said. “Those really close relationships are very important to me.”
Glissman credits history professor Peter Maslowski for suggesting he apply for the scholarship and Laura Damuth, academic coordinator for undergraduate research, for leading him through the process.
“I have been so blessed by the University of Nebraska. Everybody is so willing to help,” he said. “I really feel I am representing more than myself. I’m representing the whole state.”
Husker coach Bill Callahan even contributed a letter of recommendation.
“From what people have told me, I owe him a lot,” Glissman said.
To prepare for the Rhodes interview, in addition to her travels, studies and experiences, Ho has been listening and reading in every spare moment, waking up to National Public Radio, reading newspapers and online reports.
Glissman did a 105-page senior thesis on former President Bill Clinton, the only presidential Rhodes Scholar, and learned a lot about the scholarship program as he researched it, he said.
He also worked for a year for U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel, who he called his “biggest political role model.”
Some students spend their whole college careers chasing the dream of being a Rhodes Scholar, he said.
“What I was chasing,” he said, “was to be the starting quarterback for Nebraska football. I was chasing my football dreams.”
At the same time, he was working hard in the classroom and improving his academic performance.
Now, his path and that of Ho’s have led to Des Moines and this important Saturday interview.
“They’re sort of counting on me. There’s a lot of pressure,” Ho said. “But there’s nothing I can do but be myself.”
Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.
Nebraska Wesleyan senior Xuan-Trang Ho thought it was SPAM, a joke someone was playing on her. Then it sunk in and she squealed and ran to find her mother to give her a big hug.
Recent University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate Garth Glissman opened his e-mail at 6 p.m. in Salisbury, Conn., where he is teaching history and coaching football at a private boys school.
His first thought was to call his mom, Susan Glissman, his “biggest supporter and inspiration,” at her job in Lincoln.
Both Ho and Glissman will interview Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa, for the opportunity to be Rhodes Scholars. They join 16 other finalists in their district and a total of 256 nationwide who will interview for the coveted 32 Rhodes Scholarships, and a chance to attend Oxford University for two to three years.
Two will be selected from each district. Ho and Glissman know that Saturday’s interviews will be intellectually grueling, and they want to make their universities proud.
“Maybe it’s the football player in me, but I’m taking the approach that I haven’t accomplished anything yet,” said Glissman, a three-sport athlete at Waverly High School and former Husker quarterback who played behind Jammal Lord and Joe Dailey. “It’s the old ‘taking one game at a time’ adage. I’m focused on the task at hand.”
UNL’s last Rhodes Scholar — Jeremy Vetter — was selected in 1996. Vetter, 30, has a PhD. from the University of Pennsylvania and is studying in Berlin on a post-doctoral fellowship at Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, said his father, the Rev. Jay Vetter. His Rhodes Scholarship resulted in two master’s degrees from Oxford, his father said.
A Wesleyan student was last awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in 1913.
Finalists for the scholarship are chosen on the basis of the criteria set down in Cecil Rhodes’ will. They must be high academic achievers, have integrity of character, a spirit of unselfishness, respect for others, potential for leadership, and physical vigor.
The characteristics fulfill Rhodes's hopes that those chosen would make an effective and positive contribution throughout the world and would value the performance of public duties as their highest aim.
Ho, whose family immigrated to Lincoln from Vietnam when she was 10, was a high achiever at Lincoln High and then at Wesleyan. A political science and Spanish major, she maintains a 3.99 grade point average, is highly involved in college and community activities and has traveled extensively.
This year she received a $30,000 Harry S. Truman Scholarship for graduate school. She wants a career in international affairs and dreams about someday being the U.S. secretary of state.
Glissman graduated from UNL with highest distinction with a 3.98 grade point average. He won several history and political science awards, including the Glenn Gray Memorial Award, given annually to the outstanding UNL history undergraduate. In the community, he worked with disadvantaged youth. He gave motivational speeches to more than 25,000 Nebraskans in his final two years of college.
His dream is to run for elected office, to serve his home state of Nebraska, he said.
Both finalists are quick to give credit for getting this close to a Rhodes Scholarship to the professors and supporters at their universities.
Wesleyan political science chair Kelly Eaton has worked closely with Ho and encouraged her since she enrolled there.
“I have developed really healthy relationships with my professors,” Ho said. “Those really close relationships are very important to me.”
Glissman credits history professor Peter Maslowski for suggesting he apply for the scholarship and Laura Damuth, academic coordinator for undergraduate research, for leading him through the process.
“I have been so blessed by the University of Nebraska. Everybody is so willing to help,” he said. “I really feel I am representing more than myself. I’m representing the whole state.”
Husker coach Bill Callahan even contributed a letter of recommendation.
“From what people have told me, I owe him a lot,” Glissman said.
To prepare for the Rhodes interview, in addition to her travels, studies and experiences, Ho has been listening and reading in every spare moment, waking up to National Public Radio, reading newspapers and online reports.
Glissman did a 105-page senior thesis on former President Bill Clinton, the only presidential Rhodes Scholar, and learned a lot about the scholarship program as he researched it, he said.
He also worked for a year for U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel, who he called his “biggest political role model.”
Some students spend their whole college careers chasing the dream of being a Rhodes Scholar, he said.
“What I was chasing,” he said, “was to be the starting quarterback for Nebraska football. I was chasing my football dreams.”
At the same time, he was working hard in the classroom and improving his academic performance.
Now, his path and that of Ho’s have led to Des Moines and this important Saturday interview.
“They’re sort of counting on me. There’s a lot of pressure,” Ho said. “But there’s nothing I can do but be myself.”
Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.
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