2026 Rhodes Scholar: Esmeralda Abreu Jerez '25

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On Saturday, November 15, 2025, the American Rhodes Scholar Class of 2026 was elected. These 32 outstanding students will commence their studies at Oxford in October 2026. They were selected from a pool of 965 candidates who had been nominated by their colleges and universities. They will now complete their applications to begin courses at Oxford next year, widely across the University's academic disciplines.

A recent Dartmouth Geography alum, Esmeralda Abreu Jerez '25, has received a 2026 Rhodes scholarship, one of the world's oldest and most prestigious academic awards for graduate study. Congratulation to Esmeralda! Bio below.

The scholarships provide comprehensive funding for two to three years of study at the University of Oxford.

Additional international recipients will be announced in the coming days. 

The Rhodes Scholars chosen from the United States will join an international group of scholars chosen from 25 other Rhodes Scholar jurisdictions around the world, and two global scholars from countries not represented by these jurisdictions. More than 100 Rhodes Scholars will be selected worldwide this year, including international students who have attended American colleges and universities but have applied through their home country.

All of this year's scholars will begin graduate study at Oxford, across a range of disciplines, in October 2026.

Created in 1902 by the will of Cecil Rhodes, the Rhodes scholarships are provided in partnership with the Second Century Founders, John McCall MacBain O.C., the Atlantic Philanthropies, and many other benefactors. "Academic excellence is essential" as a basis for selecting Rhodes scholars, said Ramona L. Doyle, American secretary of the Rhodes Trust, "but it is only the beginning."

"A Rhodes scholar should demonstrate ambition for social impact, strong leadership, empathy for others, and an acute awareness of inequities," Doyle said. "The trust seeks scholars of exceptional character who are committed to making a profound difference in the world. A Rhodes scholar should show great promise of leadership and character, as well as an exceptionally strong commitment to service." 

Full text available on the Rhodes Trust website.

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DISTRICT 3
New York - South

Esmeralda Abreu Jerez, Bronx, graduated from Dartmouth College in 2025 with a B.A. in Geography and Quantitative Social Science. Her senior honors thesis, which examined labor organizing among home health aides in New York City, received high honors and the Geography Department's Thelma Glass Award for the most outstanding scholar-activist in the senior class. While at Dartmouth, she was an organizer and steward with the Student Worker's Collective and founded a women's health committee serving migrant farm workers in the Upper Valley. At Oxford, Esmeralda proposes to complete an M.Sc. in Global Health Sciences and Epidemiology and an M.Sc. in Health Service Improvement and Evaluation.