Abreu Jerez ’25 and da Silva ’25 Named Rhodes Scholars

Esmeralda Abreu Jerez ’25 and Noah da Silva ’25 have been named Rhodes Scholars, becoming a member of a bunch of greater than 100 distinctive college students from greater than 70 nations world wide who will pursue graduate examine on the University of Oxford in 2026.

“I am constantly impressed with our Dartmouth students who lead in so many different ways,” says President Sian Leah Beilock. “I congratulate both Esmeralda and Noah on this important honor.”

The Rhodes Scholarship is the oldest and thought of probably the most prestigious worldwide graduate scholarship on the earth. Past Rhodes Scholars have gone on to turn into heads of state, Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, leaders of faculties and universities, and Supreme Court justices.

Abreu Jerez is one among 32 American college students chosen for Rhodes this 12 months; da Silva is the only consultant of Bermuda among the many 2026 cohort.

Dartmouth has beforehand despatched 81 alumni to Oxford as Rhodes Scholars, together with, most just lately, Jessica Chiriboga ’24 and Zachary Lang ’23.

Esmeralda Abreu Jerez ’25

“I am deeply honored and moved to join the Rhodes community,” says Abreu Jerez, who grew up within the Bronx and whose household comes from the Dominican Republic.

As a first-generation, low-income scholar and campus organizer, receiving the Rhodes “gave me hope that students like me can be recognized,” says Abreu Jerez, who double majored in quantitative social science and geography modified with African and African American research.

Abreu Jerez—who plans a profession as a social epidemiologist in high-impact coverage organizations—will use the Rhodes to pursue grasp’s levels in world well being science and epidemiology and in well being service enchancment and analysis at Oxford.

At Dartmouth, her analysis explored the socioeconomic inequities ladies, moms, and well being care employees face within the well being care system. Her senior honors thesis, which examined labor organizing amongst house well being aides in New York City, acquired excessive honors and earned her the Thelma Glass Award from the geography division. She graduated magna cum laude and was a category marshal.

Spurred into motion by the accessibility points she noticed when working with the FUERZA Farmworkers’ Fund, a student-led group offering important items to migrant farm employees, Abreu Jerez based the Women’s Health Committee, which raised funds for medical bills and created pathways for well being care entry for migrant farmworkers.

She additionally was an organizer and steward with the Student Worker Collective at Dartmouth, scholar coordinator for the Office of Pluralism and Leadership’s Latinx and Caribbean Advising Center, an organizer for the OPAL co-sponsored Central American Futurities 2.0 Conference, and a researcher for the historical past division’s Mississippi Freedom Writers analysis group.

“As a student, scholar, organizer, and person, Esmeralda exemplifies the very best of Dartmouth,” says Associate Professor of Geography Abigail Neely, who served as Abreu Jerez’s thesis adviser. “In her studies she combines critical qualitative human geography and quantitative social science to better understand some of the world’s most complex issues. Her commitment to deep intellectual work and care in all facets of her life make her a role model for us all.”

Pamela Voekel, an affiliate professor of historical past and Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean research, agrees.

“Esmeralda is one of those people who ‘leads following,’ that is, who achieves the trust of others by treating them with respect and making an example of her own hard work and empathy,” Voekel says. “She is one of the most electrifying classroom participants I have had the honor to teach in the past 30 years.”

“I am deeply grateful to all my professors, specifically those in the geography and AAAS departments, who believed in me from the beginning and encouraged me to flourish and prosper,” says Abreu Jerez, who says she is “still shocked” to have been named a Rhodes Scholar.

“I thank my community—friends, workers, student organizers—for being my central moral compass and guiding North Star,” she says. 

“This honor would not have been possible without the multiple mutual aid organizations—FUERZA, SWCD, Co-FIRED—who uplifted and cared for me throughout my four years at Dartmouth. Remaining loyal to Rhodes’ commitment to leadership, I intend to model the caring, solidarity-focused leadership I firmly believe can build a more equitable world for communities like mine who have been invisiblized for so long. I hope to champion these silenced voices at Oxford and the wider community with the same conviction as I did at Dartmouth.”

Noah da Silva ’25

Growing up in Bermuda, da Silva—who will use his Rhodes Scholarship to pursue a DPhil in earth sciences in paleobiology and evolution at Oxford—developed a love of science by his exploration of the “tides, forests, and caves” of his island house, and found a selected ardour for digging up fossils. 

Da Silva says he obtained the information of the award Monday afternoon whereas in geobiology class, “fell out of my chair,” after which instantly referred to as his dad and mom, who have been additionally overjoyed.

“My ultimate goal at Oxford is to pursue paleobiology—the study of ancient ecosystems, mass extinctions, and the vibrant history we can read from the fossil record. The rocks beneath our feet tell the most extraordinary story on earth, and I’m going to be a part of exploring that history,” da Silva says.

“In the face of changing climates, rising seas, and the Sixth Mass Extinction, it’s more important than ever that we understand how we got here, and where we may be headed—we need to use the mysteries of the past to solve the problems of our future.”

He majored in earth sciences modified with biology at Dartmouth, graduating with honors and receiving the award for many excellent earth sciences senior thesis, which concerned a analysis collaboration with the Bermudian authorities to pursue the conservation of micro snails. 

His expertise as a analysis collaborator throughout organic and geological disciplines additionally consists of an internship with the Bermuda Zoological Society and analysis in Costa Rica and Little Cayman. He accomplished the Stretch subject program, served as ecology chair with the Dartmouth Undergraduate Biology Society, and led journeys for the Flora and Fauna division of Dartmouth Outing Club.

He is presently a postbaccalaureate analysis affiliate within the Department of Earth Sciences, working with Assistant Professor Sarah Slotznick.

“The earth sciences and biology departments at Dartmouth have given me the opportunities to travel across glaciers and deserts, rainforests and jungles, exploring corals and fossils around the world—adventures I don’t think I could have taken part in anywhere else,” da Silva says. “Without those experiences, and the people at this College who shaped me into the person I am today, I wouldn’t have had the courage to apply. I’ve learned that it’s possible to build a life through adventure, and I’m ready for many more adventures to come.”

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For details about making use of for Rhodes and different scholarship applications, go to Dartmouth’s Fellowships Office.