University of Oklahoma senior Sarah Swenson spent Monday adjusting to the hectic life of a Rhodes scholar.

Swenson, a senior from Sioux Falls, S.D., learned of the honor Saturday, and OU announced the win Monday.

“It's been pretty crazy; it seems pretty unreal,” Swenson said Monday evening. “I've been getting phone calls from all over the place and e-mails from all over the place from people congratulating me.”

Regional committees select 32 American Rhodes Scholars for two years of study at the University of Oxford in England, with a possible renewal for a third year. The international fellowships began after the death of Cecil Rhodes in 1902.

Jason Sanders won in 2000, and Andrea DenHoed won a scholarship in 2008.

“OU, with 28, is the only university in Oklahoma to have produced more than two Rhodes Scholars in the listing of the Rhodes Trust, which dates back to 1903,” OU President David Boren said.

“Sarah Swenson has brought great pride to the University of Oklahoma by winning the Rhodes scholarship,” he said. “Her record of academic excellence and her concern for others make her a deserving recipient of this signal honor.”

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