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Mississippi State University seniors Sydney Denton and Devin Hutchins will soon vie for the chance to join one of the world’s most distinguished academic communities as Rhodes Scholarship finalists.
For Denton, who learned she had been chosen as a finalist during a guest lecture Tuesday, the news was a shock.
“I never thought this was a possibility,” she told The Dispatch. “I applied to this, and I put a lot of work into it. I was proud of the work I put into my application, but I never thought it could be me who got to be a finalist.”
Equally surprised, Hutchins said the weight of the honor hit him immediately.
“It’s an incredible opportunity, and it’s not one that a lot of people get,” he said. “It was certainly not something I ever thought I would get myself – just to be able to go up for the scholarship in an interview.”
Established in 1902, the Rhodes Scholarship provides full financial support for selected students from around the world to pursue graduate studies at the University of Oxford. Scholars are chosen based on criteria such as academic excellence, leadership instincts and mastery of areas of interest.
Denton and Hutchins, both students in the Judy and Bobby Shackouls Honors College, are Mississippi State’s eighth and ninth Rhodes finalists in 13 years. MSU alumnus Donald “Field” Brown became the university’s second Rhodes Scholar, and the first since 1911, in 2013.
The two students will interview for the scholarship in mid-November, along with other finalists.
A first-generation student from West Monroe, Louisiana, Denton is double majoring in history and political science. On campus, she’s a member of the MSU Student Association and is currently working with faculty and other students to start an Amnesty International chapter.
Off campus, Denton aims to create opportunities in education. Working with New Orleans-based nonprofit E Pluribus Unum Fund, which helps young adults pursue community impact projects, Denton is developing a college prep program for students at Starkville High School. She has also served as a mentor with The Brickfire Project for nearly four years.
“That has also really helped fan the flames of my want for education equality and equity,” she said. “I was on the (executive) board (of The Brickfire Project) for a year, and that really impacted me and made me see even more of the structural shortfalls of the education system.”
If she’s selected to study at Oxford, Denton wants to study those shortfalls by comparing the differences between the British and American class systems and how the American class structure affects education access.
She plans to eventually pursue a law degree and work as an attorney somewhere in the public service sector, specifically with education.
“I would just love to do that for the rest of my life – just making sure everyone has access to the education they deserve through whatever means possible,” she said.
MSU’s Williams Endowed Chair of Abraham Lincoln and Civil War Studies Susannah Ural, who wrote one of Denton’s recommendation letters for the scholarship, said Denton likely stood out as an applicant because she brings many different strengths to everything she does.
“I have been teaching undergraduate students since 1996; I’ve been hiring them as student interns since the early 2000s,” Ural wrote in an email to The Dispatch. “Reflecting on those thousands of students and the scores of interns, I would place Sydney in the top (2%) of that group.”
Hutchins, a philosophy and economics double major from Hernando, also plans to pursue a law career, focusing partly on criminal justice reform in Mississippi. Staying within his home state is a priority for Hutchins.
“Maybe (I’ll) get into public office eventually, and try to do my best to improve the state, especially when it comes to reforming criminal justice affairs,” he said. “I think it’s a shame that a lot of people … have to leave the state in order to make more money or get a better job or live in a better area. But I think (for) most people, if they want the state to change, that really does start with them.”
If he’s selected as a scholar, Hutchins plans to study criminology and the history of America’s penal system to help create solutions to the issues he sees in the criminal justice system.
Hutchins is a decorated International Public Debate Association debater and a member of the Speech and Debate Team, Philosophy Club and Ethics Bowl Team at MSU. His debate coach, Brett Harvey, who also serves as the university’s director of federal regulatory compliance, wrote one of Hutchins’ recommendation letters for the scholarship.
“For something like Rhodes, anyone who’s named a finalist is going to have a strong combination of a lot of different traits and characteristics, and I think Devin is no exception to that,” Harvey told The Dispatch. “He provides just a great combination of intelligence and knowledge and studiousness, but also just being a very decent, likable and well-rounded person.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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