Two University of Arkansas students named finalists for Rhodes Scholarship

Two University of Arkansas (UA) honors students, Danielle Neighbour and Jacob Smith, were selected from among more than 1,500 undergraduate students as finalists for the Rhodes Scholarship, an honor that will ultimately go to 32 students.
 
"The competition is intense," University of Arkansas Chancellor Joseph Steinmetz said. "Having two finalists selected is a real testament to their extraordinary accomplishments and to the tireless mentoring they receive from faculty. Both Danielle and Jake have taken full advantage of the exceptional opportunities we have to offer on this campus, including study abroad and undergraduate research. We wish them the best in these competitions, but more importantly, in what will certainly be distinguished professional careers."
 
Neighbour and Smith will interview for the scholarship in Chicago on Nov. 19; if selected, they will spend two years at Oxford University, with a potential third-year renewal.
 
Neighbour is studying civil engineering with a focus on expanding access to clean water. She has been selected as a 2016 Truman Scholar and is also a finalist for the Schwarzman Scholarship, which funds one year of study at Beijing’s Tsinghua University.
 
Smith is a pre-med honors kinesiology major whose passion was inspired by his own personal experience with injury, which diverted his dreams to pitch for the university’s baseball team.