SIT Switzerland alum Emmanuel Orozco Castellanos named Rhodes Scholar
December 14th, 2023 | Alumni, Scholarships, SIT Study Abroad
Jordan Geopolitics alum Jeromel Dela Rosa Lara is a 2024 finalist
SIT Switzerland alum Emmanuel Orozco Castellanos is among 32 U.S. students selected as 2024 Rhodes Scholars. The select group鈥攁mong only about 100 such scholars chosen each year in the world鈥� will go to Oxford University in October 2024 to earn graduate degrees. Orozco Castellanos plans to pursue two master鈥檚 degrees: one in refugee studies and one in Latin American studies.
Orozco Castellanos, who participated in in spring 2022, was born and raised in Jalisco, Mexico. He migrated with his family to the United States and graduated from the University of Michigan in 2022 with a BA in international studies and minors in critical translation studies and Latin American and Caribbean studies. He is the third known SIT Study Abroad student named a Rhodes Scholar.
Jeromel Dela Rosa Lara, an alumnus of 2022 , was named a 2024 Rhodes Scholar Finalist.
- Jeromel Dela Rosa Lara talks about his study abroad experience in
After the program was twice cancelled due to the pandemic, Orozco Castellanos was finally able to join it in spring 2022. He describes his experience as transformative, and said it confirmed his interest in pursuing a career in human rights, an idea born in high school in Mexico when he served as an NGO representative to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. His goal is to work in humanitarian relief or human rights advocacy for a global NGO or an international organization like the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
Among the most impactful experiences of his semester abroad, he said, was meeting the chair of the United Nations Committee Against Torture while working on his on the legal theory behind the UN Convention Against Torture and its applicability to non-state actors. 鈥淏eing able to interview one of the world鈥檚 foremost human rights experts just outside the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights was very special,鈥� he told the UM newspaper .
Orozco Castellanos said he was impressed with the access he had to high-level professionals on his program. 鈥淧retty much everybody I asked was willing to offer an interview, and I'm talking about very high-profile scholars and professionals,鈥� he said.
But academics wasn鈥檛 the only memorable aspect of his study abroad experience. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the part everyone talks about, and I know it sounds cliched, but I was in a homestay that was just incredible鈥攑robably one of the best experiences of my life.
鈥淚 know a lot of other students do programs where they stay on a college campus. But I was so grateful to do a homestay because I got to learn so much about Swiss culture. I made so many memories and met so many people.鈥�
Orozco Castellanos said he sustained a foot injury during the last month of his program that required him to wear a cast and use crutches which prevented him from participating in hikes. 鈥淭hat was disappointing and stressful. But the folks on the SIT program were so nice and accommodating. They helped me explore health insurance abroad and all of those things that you never think about. I'm grateful for them because they went above and beyond to make sure that I still got to enjoy the program. I鈥檓 never going to forget my time there. It was so memorable and transformative.鈥�
At the University of Michigan, Orozco Castellanos did a project on the Inter-American asylum regime and how the UNHCR operates in Mexico with support from the United States. 鈥淭he mechanisms we have are very weak in the region compared to Europe,鈥� he said. As a Rhodes Scholar, he said he hopes to strengthen the inter-American regime.
鈥淭he University of Oxford pioneered the field of refugee studies in the 1980s,鈥� he told The University Record. 鈥淚 am ecstatic to learn from some of the world鈥檚 most prominent experts in the field, many of whom have worked as humanitarians and have a holistic view of the realities of forced displacement.鈥�
鈥淢igrants and displaced people deserve the same level of respect I have received,鈥� he said, 鈥渁nd I hope to use my time at Oxford to work towards this goal, particularly during these dark times in humanity鈥檚 history.鈥�
Prior to winning the Rhodes Scholarship, Emmanuel was the 2023 recipient of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Spirit Award for his approach to inclusive leadership and contributions to the field of international human rights, a 2021-2022 Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship winner, a five-term James B. Angell Scholar, and a 2020 UROP Blue Ribbon Award recipient for his role in developing the University of Michigan鈥檚 new responsive curriculum for international students. He received the Miguel Cabrera Scholarship and has presented and received awards for his research. As an undergraduate, he served as president of University of Michigan鈥檚 Global Scholars Program and wrote for the Michigan Journal of International Affairs.
Established in 1903, the Rhodes Scholarships are the oldest and one of the most prestigious scholarship programs in the world. According to the Rhodes Trust, the overall global acceptance rate is 0.7 percent, making it one of the most competitive scholarships in the world.