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Esmeralda Abreu Jerez ’25 and Noah da Silva ’25 have been named Rhodes Scholars, joining a group of more than 100 exceptional students from more than 70 countries around the world who will pursue graduate study at the University of Oxford in 2026.

“I am constantly impressed with our ���㽶��Ƶ students who lead in so many different ways,” says . “I congratulate both Esmeralda and Noah on this important honor.”

The Rhodes Scholarship is the oldest and considered the most prestigious international graduate scholarship in the world. Past Rhodes Scholars have gone on to become heads of state, Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, leaders of colleges and universities, and Supreme Court justices.

Abreu Jerez is one of 32 American students chosen for Rhodes this year; da Silva is the sole representative of Bermuda among the 2026 cohort.

���㽶��Ƶ has previously sent 81 alumni to Oxford as Rhodes Scholars, including, most recently, Jessica Chiriboga ’24 and Zachary Lang ’23.

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Esmeralda Abreu Jerez ’25 was a class marshal at the 2025 Commencement and was active with the FUERZA Farmworkers’ Fund, the Women’s Health Committee, and the Student Worker Collective at ���㽶��Ƶ. (Photo by Katie Lenhart)

Esmeralda Abreu Jerez ’25

“I am deeply honored and moved to join the Rhodes community,” says Abreu Jerez, who grew up in the Bronx and whose family comes from the Dominican Republic.

As a first-generation, low-income student and campus organizer, receiving the Rhodes “gave me hope that students like me can be recognized,” says Abreu Jerez, who double majored in quantitative social science and geography modified with African and African American studies.

Abreu Jerez—who plans a career as a social epidemiologist in high-impact policy organizations—will use the Rhodes to pursue master’s degrees in global health science and epidemiology and in health service improvement and evaluation at Oxford.

At ���㽶��Ƶ, her research explored the socioeconomic inequities women, mothers, and health care workers face in the health care system. Her senior honors thesis, which examined labor organizing among home health aides in New York City, received high honors and earned her the Thelma Glass Award from the geography department. She graduated magna cum laude and was a class marshal.

Spurred into action by the accessibility issues she observed when working with the FUERZA Farmworkers’ Fund, a student-led organization providing essential goods to migrant farm workers, Abreu Jerez founded the Women’s Health Committee, which raised funds for medical expenses and created pathways for health care access for migrant farmworkers.

She also was an organizer and steward with the Student Worker Collective at ���㽶��Ƶ, student coordinator for the Office of Pluralism and Leadership’s Latinx and Caribbean Advising Center, an organizer for the OPAL co-sponsored Central American Futurities 2.0 Conference, and a researcher for the history department’s Mississippi Freedom Writers research group.

“As a student, scholar, organizer, and person, Esmeralda exemplifies the very best of ���㽶��Ƶ,” says Associate Professor of Geography , who served as Abreu Jerez’s thesis adviser. “In her studies she combines critical qualitative human geography and quantitative social science to better understand some of the world’s most complex issues. Her commitment to deep intellectual work and care in all facets of her life make her a role model for us all.”

, an associate professor of history and Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean studies, agrees.

“Esmeralda is one of those people who ‘leads following,’ that is, who achieves the trust of others by treating them with respect and making an example of her own hard work and empathy,” Voekel says. “She is one of the most electrifying classroom participants I have had the honor to teach in the past 30 years.”

“I am deeply grateful to all my professors, specifically those in the geography and AAAS departments, who believed in me from the beginning and encouraged me to flourish and prosper,” says Abreu Jerez, who says she is “still shocked” to have been named a Rhodes Scholar.

“I thank my community—friends, workers, student organizers—for being my central moral compass and guiding North Star,” she says. 

“This honor would not have been possible without the multiple mutual aid organizations—FUERZA, SWCD, Co-FIRED—who uplifted and cared for me throughout my four years at ���㽶��Ƶ. Remaining loyal to Rhodes’ commitment to leadership, I intend to model the caring, solidarity-focused leadership I firmly believe can build a more equitable world for communities like mine who have been invisiblized for so long. I hope to champion these silenced voices at Oxford and the wider community with the same conviction as I did at ���㽶��Ƶ.”

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Noah da Silva ’25, who is from Bermuda, is currently a postbaccalaureate research associate in the Department of Earth Sciences. (Photo by Katie Lenhart)

Noah da Silva ’25

Growing up in Bermuda, da Silva—who will use his Rhodes Scholarship to pursue a DPhil in earth sciences in paleobiology and evolution at Oxford—developed a love of science through his exploration of the “tides, forests, and caves” of his island home, and discovered a particular passion for digging up fossils. 

Da Silva says he got the news of the award Monday afternoon while in geobiology class, “fell out of my chair,” and then immediately called his parents, who were also overjoyed.

“My ultimate goal at Oxford is to pursue paleobiology—the study of ancient ecosystems, mass extinctions, and the vibrant history we can read from the fossil record. The rocks beneath our feet tell the most extraordinary story on earth, and I’m going to be a part of exploring that history,” da Silva says.

“In the face of changing climates, rising seas, and the Sixth Mass Extinction, it’s more important than ever that we understand how we got here, and where we may be headed—we need to use the mysteries of the past to solve the problems of our future.”

He majored in earth sciences modified with biology at ���㽶��Ƶ, graduating with honors and receiving the award for most outstanding earth sciences senior thesis, which involved a research collaboration with the Bermudian government to pursue the conservation of micro snails. 

His experience as a research collaborator across biological and geological disciplines also includes an internship with the Bermuda Zoological Society and research in Costa Rica and Little Cayman. He completed the field program, served as ecology chair with the , and led trips for the Flora and Fauna division of .

He is currently a postbaccalaureate research associate in the , working with Assistant Professor .

 “Noah’s excitement for science, the outdoors, and life in general is catching,” says Slotznick, who noted that his postbaccalaureate position kicked off with 4 weeks of fieldwork in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia.

“Even though the most junior member of the team, he seamlessly blended into the international group of geologists, paleontologists, documentarians, and local guides—thanks to ���㽶��Ƶ’s modified major option, Noah has developed a wide-ranging scientific background that allows him to innately think in an interdisciplinary fashion.”

“Noah is an amazing example of a student who is following their passion,” says another mentor, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences . “When he is not working as a postbac in the Earth Sciences department, Noah has continued his research on micro snails in Bermuda, applying the knowledge he gained completing his senior thesis to their conservation.”

Hicks Pries also says da Silva “was a great builder of community at ���㽶��Ƶ,” and as co-chair of last year’s Winter Carnival came up with the Jurassic Parka theme.

“His intellectual curiosity and enthusiasm in classes was contagious, and his collaborative spirit made him a natural leader,” she says. “He has a gift for encouraging others to rise to their best.”

“The earth sciences and biology departments at ���㽶��Ƶ have given me the opportunities to travel across glaciers and deserts, rainforests and jungles, exploring corals and fossils around the world—adventures I don’t think I could have taken part in anywhere else,” da Silva says. “Without those experiences, and the people at this College who shaped me into the person I am today, I wouldn’t have had the courage to apply. I’ve learned that it’s possible to build a life through adventure, and I’m ready for many more adventures to come.”

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For information about applying for Rhodes and other scholarship programs, visit ���㽶��Ƶ’s .