Oklahoma student named for top scholarship

ENID, Okla. (AP) _ Melissa Dell can add Rhodes Scholar to her list of accolades. <br/><br/>Dell, an Enid native and an economics major at Harvard University, learned that she earned the scholarship Saturday.

Monday, November 22nd 2004, 6:13 am

By: News On 6

ENID, Okla. (AP) _ Melissa Dell can add Rhodes Scholar to her list of accolades.

Dell, an Enid native and an economics major at Harvard University, learned that she earned the scholarship Saturday.

``I was pretty shocked; it wasn't something I really expected,'' Dell said in a telephone interview. ``Everyone else who applied just seemed so amazing.''

Dell, who runs Division 1 varsity track and cross-country, chairs the Harvard Women's Leadership Network and founded a nonprofit that assists women's microfinance organizations.

She has been featured in Sports Illustrated and was named one of Glamour Magazine's 2004 Top Ten College Women.

Dell, 21, is also a recipient of the Truman Scholarship.

She was chosen from among 13 contestants for four Rhodes Scholarships in a district competition in St. Paul, Minn.

The award covers educational costs for at least two years of study at the University of Oxford in England.

Dell said eight judges participated in the 20-minute interview.

``When I went in, I tried to picture the interview as a conversation,'' Dell said.

Dell plans to use the scholarship to continue her studies in human development at the University of Oxford in England. Previously, she focused on gender and development in Latin America, with hands-on research in Chile, Peru and Mexico.