ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A University of New Mexico student is heading to Oxford with a fully funded postgraduate award.
Abrianna Morales is one of 32 U.S. students chosen for the Rhodes Scholarship. She graduated from the UNM in May 2023, majoring in psychology and criminology. Now, she’s headed to Oxford as the first UNM student in 24 years to get this award. But the application process to get the full-ride scholarship wasn’t so easy.
“You need like eight recommendation letters, you need a minimum of a 3.7 undergrad GPA, completing the personal statement and I think there’s an age requirement that you have to meet,” said Abrianna Morales.
Students attending must follow the Rhodes Trust motto: fighting the world’s fight.
“You have to have some kind of thing that you’re interested in doing, that you care to give to the world. Going to Oxford will give you the chance to improve your mission in some way,” said Morales.
For Morales, that mission started when she was 15.
“For the past decade or so, I’ve been working at the intersection of youth engaging and victim advocacy. Mostly due to my victimization of when I was 15, I founded a nonprofit organization I’ve been working as a national advocate and spokesperson for victims of sexual abuse since then,” Morales said.
Morales founded a nonprofit called Sexual Assault Youth Support Network, which aims at empowering and connecting youth sexual assault survivors. Oxford will give her the space to expand her advocacy.
“It will allow me to broaden my knowledge base and really have the space to think critically and deeply about political identity, and you know, what brings us here and what allows us to engage in our community and bring that back here to New Mexico and help other young people who like me needed support back then, back when I was 15,” said Morales.
Morales at Oxford in October. She plans to get a second bachelor’s in philosophy politics and economics.
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