Sitting around a large granite table after a daylong interview session, 14 finalists in District 7- that includes Alabama, Florida and Tennessee- wait for the announcement of who received the Rhodes Scholarship for 2012. Only two people out of each district, and 32 people total, are chosen every year from the U.S.

The name Josh Carpenter, a 24-year-old from Florence, Ala., was announced first. Overcome with emotion, he plunged his head into his hands as fast as he could.

“I did my best to keep composed, but I think I failed miserably,” Carpenter said.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham Honors Program graduate received a bachelor’s degree with a double major in economics and accounting. He was awarded “most outstanding business student,” and “most outstanding elected officer” at UAB, where he was Vice President of student government. He is only the second student from UAB to win the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship.

Carpenter is the only recipient of the Rhodes Scholarship from Alabama this year. He will be leaving September 25 to study for two years at Oxford University, earning a master of philosophy degree in comparative social policy.

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The mission of AARS is to bring Rhodes Scholars in America together in support of the Rhodes Scholarship, its values, and Oxford University through events, publications, networks and the web.

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