Andy Flores (left), a recent Ole Miss graduate from Ocean Springs; and Kharley Redmon, a senior international studies and Arabic major from Owensboro, Kentucky; have been chosen as finalists for a Rhodes Scholarship. Christian Boudreaux, a senior majoring in biology, is a finalist for the Marshall Scholarship.
Three selected for final round of interviews for prestigious opportunities
A University of Mississippi student and one recent graduate have been named as finalists for the renowned Rhodes scholarships. Another student was also selected as a finalist for the Marshall Scholarship.
Christian Boudreaux, a senior majoring in biology; Andy Flores, a recent Ole Miss graduate from Ocean Springs; and Kharley Redmon, a senior international studies and Arabic major from Owensboro, Kentucky; were chosen as finalists for two of the most exclusive scholarships available to students in the United States.
“These students are real change agents – and that’s what they’re looking for,” said Vivian Ibrahim, director of the Office of National Scholarship Advisement.
One of the main qualities that Rhodes scholars have is “moral force of character,” Ibrahim said.
“We see that in these students but in very different ways,” she said “For Andy, it’s advocacy and thinking about access to education. For Kharley, it’s integrity in journalism and how we think about people from different parts of the world.”
Flores and Redmon are finalists for the Rhodes Scholarship, which allows students from around the world to study at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom to complete a master’s or doctoral degree.
The university has produced 27 Rhodes scholars, the most recent being Arielle Hudson, of Tunica. Hudson was the university’s first African American female Rhodes recipient.
Boudreaux, an Oxford native, is a finalist for a Marshall Scholarship, which funds two years of study in master’s degree programs of scholars’ choice in the United Kingdom.
“He’s both a scientist and someone who really cares about how we make science accessible to the public,” Ibrahim said.
A Stamps Scholar, he won a Goldwater Scholarship as a sophomore in 2023. That enabled him to work in a NOAA facility in San Diego on a summer internship. Most recently, Boudreaux was named a Truman Scholar this spring while studying abroad in Zanzibar.
He also founded Aqua Culture, a student organization at Ole Miss that works to promote and maintain healthy aquatic environments. As a freshman, he served as president of Hill Country Roots, a student organization that focuses on preserving Mississippi‘s forests and native trees.
If selected as a Marshall scholar, Boudreaux hopes to earn master’s degrees in evolutionary genetics and marine systems and policies from the University of Edinburgh.
“I am interested in using genetic techniques to understand the effects of climate change on marine organisms and ecosystems,” Boudreaux said. “I will take this science in conjunction with my policy and management training to inform conservation practice aimed at preserving marine ecosystems.”
Flores graduated from Ole Miss in spring 2023 with degrees in public policy leadership and philosophy. He was the first Latino Truman Scholar from Mississippi and an active member of the Associated Student Body, First-Generation Student Network, and Ole Miss Debate Team.
Flores was named a law and public policy fellow at the University of California at Berkeley‘s Goldman School of Public Policy and a Leadership and the American Presidency Scholar at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute.
“Social movement building, that’s my bread and butter because I am motivated by the fact that we can do better,” Flores said. “I want more for Mississippi and I want more for the South.”
Since graduation, he has served as a special assistant to the director at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator and most recently as a voter protection associate in the North Carolina coordinated campaign.
If selected for a Rhodes Scholarship, Flores said he hopes to earn master’s degrees in sociology and higher education.
“I’m deeply fascinated by the ability of universities across the world – but particularly in America – to bridge people’s experience with themselves and with their society,” he said. “I want to harness education to make society more loving, more equal and, more to the surface for me, I want to figure out how we can use education in a way that serves everyone and protects democracy.”
Redmon hopes to use her Rhodes scholarship to further her study of Arabic through a master’s degree in Middle Eastern studies. She won first place in the Best of the South Feature Competition from the Southeast Journalism Conference and spent time tutoring students in the Arabic Language Flagship Program.
Redmon is this year’s editor-in-chief of The Daily Mississippian and said she hopes to use her expertise in Middle Eastern studies as a foreign correspondent.
“I studied abroad in Jordan for about half a year and, prior to that I had studied there for two months through the flagship program,” she said. “I feel very connected to making sure there’s adequate coverage of that region.
“I think the biggest issue is that, particularly in journalism, people really want things to be black or white. There’s a lot of gray that gets lost in between. It’s about finding that gray and bringing those gray points back into the conversation.”
Although she aspires to report on global issues, Redmon said she’s also passionate about local and community journalism in Kentucky and across the South.
“While the Rhodes pushes you to think very global and although I’m globally oriented, I’m also very attached to here,” she said. “I think that a big part of the Rhodes is having this global perspective and thinking about these global problems but also making sure that you keep in mind the communities that you come from.”
The three finalists will complete their interviews for the coveted positions this month.
By Clara Turnage
