West Point Cadet Earns Rhodes Scholarship

WEST POINT – Cadet Daine Van de Wall of West Friendship, Maryland, was the only U.S. service academy recipient among the 32 U.S. Rhodes Scholarship awardees named Saturday.
Van de Wall, who is a systems and decisions science major, is the brigade commander, a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society and the H4 Sandhurst team.

He successfully graduated from Army Airborne School and the U.S. Army Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape School, as well as participated in a semester exchange at the U.S. Naval Academy.

While at Oxford he intends to earn a Master of Philosophy in international relations.
Van de Wall will commission as an Infantry Officer and combine his military background with his interests in conflict studies to help shape U.S. foreign policy in the future.

“I am truly humbled to have received the Rhodes Scholarship. My parents came to the United States from the Netherlands in 1997 in pursuit of new opportunities. First attending West Point and now having the opportunity to study be a Rhodes Scholar is a testament to the fact that anything and everything is possible in the U.S.” Van de Wall said. “I want to thank my family, friends, the Systems Engineering Department, the Graduate School Scholarship Program, and everyone who has helped me along the way. It will be an immense honor to represent West Point and the United States Army at Oxford.”

Rhodes Scholars are chosen not only for their outstanding scholarly achievements, but for their character, commitment to others and to the common good, and for their potential for leadership in whatever domains their careers may lead. The Rhodes Trust, a British charity established to honor the will and bequest of Cecil J. Rhodes, provides full financial support for Rhodes Scholars to pursue a degree or degrees at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom in partnership with the Second Century Founder, John McCall MacBain and other generous benefactors.

About West Point
The U. S. Military Academy at West Point is a four-year, co-educational, federal, liberal arts college located 50 miles north of New York City. It was founded in 1802 as America’s first college of engineering and continues today as one of our nation’s premier leader-development institutions, consistently ranked among top colleges in the country. Its mission remains constant—to educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the nation as an officer in the U. S. Army. For more information, go to www.westpoint.edu.

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