For Immediate Release Contact:
Barbara K. Laskin/ Doug Stone
November 22, 2005 (651) 696-6203

Macalester Senior from Jamaica Named a Rhodes Scholar

St. Paul, Minn.--Keon West, a senior at Macalester College, has been named a Rhodes Scholar from his native Jamaica. A psychology and French major, he is the only recipient of the prestigious scholarship from Jamaica this year. Twenty-six Jamaican students had applied.

West is the 12th Macalester student to win a Rhodes and the 11th since 1967. He was notified of the decision last Thursday after interviewing in Jamaica.

"After the interview, I was very quiet and calm," he said. "I saved the screaming until I got home. My mother called her family of 11 brothers and sisters and my father called his. Then I spent the next two hours answering the phone."

West said that his Macalester education helped prepare him for the Rhodes competition by helping "me to think and to look at things critically. It also means that there is a likelihood you will do some good in the world, a fact that counts for a lot with the committee."

He spent the last three years as a tour guide in the Admissions Office "walking backwards answering questions from parents and students. I learned how to answer questions on my feet," a distinct advantage during the interview process.

West's academic adviser, Psychology Professor Jack Rossmann, described him as "a wonderful young man, very articulate, very thoughtful. I am not that surprised that he won. As soon as I heard he was going to be interviewed, I thought he would get it. I'm delighted."

West plans to study experimental psychology during his two years at Oxford University in the United Kingdom.

Macalester is a private, national liberal arts college with a full-time enrollment of 1,841 students. Macalester is nationally recognized for its long-standing commitment to academic excellence, internationalism, diversity and civic engagement.

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