'The adventure of a lifetime': welcoming the Rhodes class of 2011
Nearly 80 new Rhodes Scholars from 14 countries have been warmly welcomed to Oxford in recent days.
Activities organised by later-year Scholars and Rhodes House to welcome the Rhodes class of 2011 have included chances to meet fellow Scholars over lunch or dinner in pubs or restaurants around Oxford, 'Welcome Day' activities including talks about Rhodes groups and a 'Meet and Mingle' party for all Scholars, and a daytrip to Windsor.
The Welcome Day activities on Saturday, 1 October, included the annual auction on behalf of the Rhodes Scholars Southern African Forum (RSSAF), and a 'Meet and Mingle' which saw the showing of a video about the recent success of six Rhodes women in swimming the English Channel to raise over £11,000 for the Acid Survivors Foundation in Pakistan. For more on this charity swim, click here.
In welcoming the Rhodes class of 2011, the Warden of Rhodes House, Dr Donald Markwell, told Scholars they were embarking 'on what I know from personal experience is the adventure of a lifetime'. He spoke of the exciting but also the sometimes daunting aspects of this, and of ways of thinking about the multiple adjustments Scholars were making. 
Referring to the unusually unsettled state of the world, Dr Markwell encouraged Scholars to consider the leadership they could in time give in responding to aspects of 'the world's predicament'. He spoke of how the values of the Rhodes Scholarships - such as emphasis on character, service, and personal and intellectual breadth - were highly relevant to this. He encouraged Rhodes Scholars to mix with fellow Scholars and other students of many different countries. For the Warden's speech of welcome, click here, and a photo gallery from the day is below.
Prior to Welcome Day, the Warden had met the Canadian Scholars of 2011 during their 'Sailing' weekend in Ottawa, and new Scholars from the US, Jamaica and the Commonwealth Caribbean, and Zimbabwe at the 'Bon Voyage Weekend' in Washington hosted by the Association of American Rhodes Scholars.
In his speech to the 'Sailing Dinner' hosted by the Canadian Association of Rhodes Scholars, Dr Markwell spoke of Cecil Rhodes's vision of promoting peace through the 'educational relations' between countries which Rhodes hoped the Rhodes Scholarships would help to promote. Implications of this vision included the importance of Scholars of all countries engaging with each other both in Oxford and in the global community of Rhodes Scholars. For the Warden's speech in Ottawa, click here.
Please enjoy the photo gallery from Welcome Day:
For more information about current Rhodes Scholar activities, click here.
Postscript: The Rhodes class of 2011 have also been warmly welcomed at the Coming Up Dinner on 21 October, at which Rhodes Trustee Professor Sir John Bell (Alberta & Magdalen 1975) spoke of their impressive quality, and thanked and farewelled Lord Waldegrave on his retirement as Chair of the Rhodes Trustees. For a report on tributes to Lord Waldegrave, and Lord Waldegrave's response stressing the value of the Rhodes Scholarships in promoting international cooperation, and for a photo gallery from the Coming Up Dinner, click here.
