Two Golden Key Members Named 2014 Rhodes Scholars

Golden Key International Honour Society is proud to announce that the Mississippi State University chapter officer, Donald Brown, and Wake Forest University chapter alumni, James O’Connell, were named Rhodes Scholars on November 24, 2013! Both of these members will have the privilege to attend the prestigious Oxford University in England to study for two to three years on scholarships that will cover the complete cost of attendance. Brown and O’Connell are part of the thirty other winners who were selected from 857 applicants this year.
Donald “Field” Brown, a senior at Mississippi State University and the second Rhodes Scholar at the university and the first since 1911, is an English and philosophy double major who hopes to eventually attain a doctorate in African-American literature. The Vicksburg, Mississippi native plans on attaining dual master’s degrees in American and English literature at Oxford University. While attending Mississippi State University, Brown served as the Golden Key chapter president, president of the Philosophy and Religion Club and a member of the school’s Roadrunner team, which recruits prospective students to the university. Brown also co-founded “The Streetcar”, a literary magazine on the Mississippi State campus.
Golden Key alumni James O’Connell recently graduated summa cum laude from Wake Forest University this past May with a bachelor of arts in politics and international affairs. While working towards his undergraduate degree, O’Connell was a member of the university’s Board of Trustees, chair of the Honor Council, wrote a feature length screenplay, wrote three short plays and hosted a radio show on film and culture. He will be the 13^th Wake Forest University student to be named a Rhodes Scholar in the past 27 years. Since his graduation, James has been working on a one-year assignment in the university president’s office, and he plans to obtain a master’s degree in public policy.
Congratulations to Donald Brown and James O’Connell on being bestowed such an incredible honor, and we wish you the best in the upcoming years!