Ardenne old boy Samuel Bailey is 2020 Rhodes Scholar
Published:Friday | November 22, 2019 | 12:00 AMPaul Clarke/Gleaner Writer
Twenty-three-year-old Samuel Bailey has been named the 2020 Rhodes Scholar.
A past student of Ardenne High School, Bailey holds a Bachelor of Laws degree with first-class honours from The University of the West Indies and is now bound for the prestigious University of Oxford, where he will pursue graduate studies.
Bailey, who was recently called to the Bar, is no stranger to the Rhodes Scholar selection process. He was runner-up for the 2019 edition.
That experience, he said, set him up for a “comeback” although the eventual announcement took him by surprise.
“Honestly, I don’t think it has settled in yet because I had gone for it last year as well, and I got the runner-up. I had to do the interview in Barbados and didn’t get it again, so I wasn’t anticipating getting it, really,” said a delighted Bailey.
After listening with a smile as Governor General Sir Patrick Allen made the announcement at King’s House yesterday, the elated Bailey called his mother to relay the exciting news.
“Hi, do you know who you talking with now? Yes, but what comes after (my name). Yes, the governor general just made the announcement,” he said with a wide grin, confirming his new status with his mother.
Bailey joins a long list of Jamaicans to be selected for the prestigious scholarship, including Ronald Thwaites in 1968, Delroy Chuck (1973), and current Finance and Planning Minister Dr Nigel Clarke.
The new Rhodes Scholar studied at both the Mona and Cave Hill campuses of The University of the West Indies and is a graduate of the Norman Manley Law School.
He is now employed at the Caribbean Court of Justice in Trinidad and Tobago.
The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford. It was established in 1902.