Senior Esther Uduehi named Rhodes Scholar among 1,500 applicants

Esther Uduehi knew if her name was called, it wouldn’t be first — not even close. With a last name starting with the 21st letter of the alphabet, Uduehi knew she had to wait.

After three hours, her wait ended — the Rhodes Scholar selection committee announced her as one of the 32 selected scholars, making her the 16th IU student to receive a Rhodes Scholarship. 

The award grants graduating seniors two to three years of study at the University of Oxford.

Of the 1,500 applicants, 837 received university endorsement and 209 finalists  were interviewed.

Three finalists were from IU: Uduehi, Laura Goins and Isak Nti Asare.

Uduehi, from Evansville, is majoring in biochemistry and mathematics and said she hopes to be the first Rhodes Scholar to find effective ways of curing cancer.

For the application process, Uduehi had to receive six to eight letters of recommendation, including one from IU President Michael McRobbie.

She said McRobbie e-mailed her congratulations within an hour after receiving the scholarship.

During the selection committee’s interview with Uduehi, they told her that McRobbie wrote an informative letter.

“‘The president really supports you’ is not something you hear everyday,” Uduehi said.

In addition to winning the scholarship, Uduehi has been serving as McRobbie’s presidential student intern.

She entered the fall 2010 semester with a 3.93 grade point average. She is also a Herman B Wells Scholar and serves as the vice president of IU’s Board of Aeons, a 12-member board that does research for McRobbie.

Uduehi said she has never been politically minded or had any aspirations to run for the IU Student Association. But as the internship progresses, she said she is realizing that she isn’t just interning with administrators. There is a larger goal — as a student voice.

“I never thought I’d be capable, but I enjoy the opportunity and privilege,” she said. “Its like, ‘Yeah Esther, you’re not just interning in the office.’ I’ll try to represent the student body as well as I can.”

Unlike the Rhodes Scholarship, there was no formal application process for the internship — she was the only candidate.

“It’s kind of like he looks for a student who has a unique IU experience and can sit at the same table as administrators and offer insights,” Uduehi said. “At least that’s what I see as my position.”

Through the internship, Uduehi serves as a member of the University Steering Committee on New Directions in Teaching and Learning, which was established by McRobbie and is chaired by John Applegate, IU vice president for University Regional Affairs, Planning and Policy. Uduehi is the only student among seven administrators.

“We’re focused on looking at IU and all of its campuses to re-evaluate how IU is educating students as well as how IU can improve,” she said. “We need to ask, ‘Does there need to be reorganizing or is it fine as it is?’”

Applegate said he thought Uduehi was awarded the Rhodes Scholarship because of her academic record, her leadership record at IU and her engaging reasoning that she and the program would be benefited by her time at Oxford.

“She has a remarkable manner with other people,” Applegate said. “She is personally engaging, she is prepared, she listens well and her contributions to a conversation are thoughtful and productive.”

While at IU, Uduehi has co-founded the IU Minority Association of Pre-medical Students and the IU Photography Society.

She has served as diversity director for IUSA, and she was the first student docent at the IU Art Museum.

Esther said her experiences have given her an appreciation of what IU has to offer.

“You go through so many days where you don’t get sleep and you say, ‘What am I doing?’” Uduehi said about averaging roughly four to five hours of sleep every night.

As to indulging in too many activities or cutting back, Uduehi said she isn’t worried.

“I think it’s really easy to make time for the things you want,” she said.

Senior Nathaniel Kenninger, who met Uduehi freshman year, said her passion stems from her realization of the enormous potential she has to change the world.

“This knowledge of her potential energizes Uduehi and pushes her to work more intensely than any other student I know,” he said.

However, Uduehi still finds time for herself. She said she currently watches about 20 regular television programs.

Her favorite is “Glee.” She said after watching an episode five or six times, she can see all the different layers within the plot.

“I’m a little obsessed. Not a little, a lot,” she said.

When reality television conversation erupts, Uduehi admits that she cries during every “Biggest Loser” season and appreciates “Jersey Shore” as an opportunity to “get away from the real world.”

But it’s not a world she would trade for her scholarships and committee meetings.

“I’d rather have a long-lasting impact and do something that people aren’t going to forget,” Uduehi said.