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Updated: November 27, 2024 @ 7:51 am
Vermont Community Newspaper Group
Lena Ashooh
Reporter
Lena Ashooh
Lena Ashooh, a Harvard student from Shelburne, is the first Vermonter to win a Rhodes Scholarship in nearly two decades.
Widely considered the most prestigious academic award in the world, Rhodes scholarships pay for students to pursue postgraduate studies for up to three years at Oxford University in England.
Ashooh, now a senior at Harvard, was named a 2025 Rhodes Scholar last week. She graduated from Champlain Valley Union High School in 2021.
“It’s been a wonderful year,” Ashooh said. “I feel nostalgic about Harvard already, but this whole process of applying to Rhodes has shown me that my projects and passions are the projects and passions of this community of people I have around me.”
Ashooh is pursuing Harvard’s first major in animal studies, a program she created that deals with humans’ treatment of animals. The coursework draws on a variety of disciplines, including animal behavior and cognition, psychology, philosophy and social justice theory from around the globe.
She traces her deep appreciation of animals to Shelburne, where she exhibited dairy cows at Shelburne Farms through her local 4-H club from the time she was eight until 18.
Ashooh spent many long summer days with a herd of dairy cows at Shelburne Farms, where mentors showed her how to be disciplined and devoted to the “needs and joy and autonomy of others,” including animals.
“Some of my warmest memories are of sitting with the dairy cows, kind of curled up into them with my head on their shoulder and their head in my lap, and just finding immense peace with them and their comfort,” Ashooh said. “So, for those 10 years of my life, I considered them close friends. It was very generous of them to invite me into their lives.”
At Harvard, Ashooh lobbied legislators on environmental justice, interned for Vermont Rep. Becca Balint and traveled to Puerto Rico to study macaque monkeys. She is also the co-president of Harvard College Animal Advocates.
Her efforts to improve animal welfare will continue at Oxford, but she plans to investigate the bigger picture by studying legal philosophy and one day maybe attending law school in the U.S.
At Oxford, Ashooh wants to study philosophical concepts behind legal decisions. Studying these concepts, she says, helps illuminate different ways that broader systems are eroding or uplifting individual value of humans and animals.
“I’m looking for more clarity on the role of moral and legal philosophy in uplifting and pushing forward advocacy efforts,” she said.
She draws inspiration from lawyers like Luke Cole, co-founder of the Center on Race, Poverty and The Environment who died in 2009. Ashooh had the opportunity to work with the organization last summer.
“He devoted his life to bringing suit against large, harmful and exploitative industries that were harming workers, communities and environments,” said Ashooh. “I find that type of advocacy very appealing.”
Although she is devoted to animals, Ashooh said her upbringing in Shelburne first instilled in her an appreciation of humanity and the role that humans play on the planet.
Adults in her childhood did not shy away from suffering in the world, but she said they empowered her with the tools to do something about it. Her teachers also exposed her to art and music, another important outlet in her life, and her beloved neighbor taught her the importance of friendships.
“I was fortunate to have people in my life who treated me as an adult, as a peer,” Ashooh said, whose father is chair of the Shelburne Selectboard. “They showed so much generosity with their minds and attention. I think that was an extraordinary gift, and it’s influenced me from a young age.”
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