Rhodes scholar honor reflects well on Orr, YSU

Should you happen to see Columbiana High School graduate and Youngstown State University senior Ashley Orr trekking across campus with a smile on her face and her head held high these days, don’t begrudge her. She’s more than earned a proud towering demeanor. After all, she finds herself among some mighty prestigious company. Prime among those luminaries include:

Golden Globe-winning actor, singer and songwriter Kris Kristofferson.

Emmy Award-winning MSNBC talk show host and political consultant Rachel Maddow.

Former Ohio Gov. Richard Celeste.

Former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO Wesley Clark.

Former Arkansas Gov. and President of the United States Bill Clinton.

Like all of those political, cultural and military dynamos, the senior mathematics and economics major at YSU shares one singular shining achievement. She has been awarded what many widely regard as the world’s most prestigious academic honor: a Rhodes scholarship.

Her honor reflects glowingly bright upon her personal intelligence, perseverance and commitment to greatness. It also reflects on the heightened academic integrity of Youngstown State..

As such, we heartily congratulate her.

ABOUT THE SCHOLARSHIP

For more than a century, the Rhodes scholarship, named for Cecil John Rhodes, has been an international postgraduate award for selected foreign students to study at the University of Oxford in Great Britain. Rhodes created the awards to build “moral force of character and instincts to lead” among its six dozen recipients across the globe annually.

As Elliot F. Gerson, American secretary of the Rhodes Trust, put it, the Rhodes scholarship is “the oldest and best known award for international study, and arguably the most famous academic award available to American college graduates.”

Clearly, no slouches need apply.

Orr, like all of this year’s 32 American Rhodes recipients, represents the antithesis of slouch. She is president of the YSU Student Government Association, co-founder of a poverty awareness program in Youngstown and is active in a wide range of volunteer services. She has studied at the London School of Economics, has worked at the Federal Reserve Bank in Cleveland and done research projects focused on public housing, crime and on poverty.

AN HONOR TO YSU, TOO

By logical extension, of course, Orr’s honor also bestows accolades upon YSU. The four-year urban institution is only the fourth public university in Ohio to have a student win the award in Rhodes’ 112-year history, joining Ohio State University, Miami University and the University of Cincinnati. This year, Orr joins students from Ohio State and Oberlin College as award winners.

Equating scholarship opportunities at Youngstown State with those of the big-league Ohio States and distinguished Oberlin Colleges of the world is indeed heartening. Over the years, YSU unfortunately and undeservedly has too often has gotten a bum’s rap as the derisive UCLA (University on the Corner of Lincoln Avenue) of higher learning among an ignominious crowd of doubting Thomases.

Orr’s superlative academic achievement should go far toward trashing that myth. But her honor is by far not the only sign of enhanced learning opportunities at the Youngstown-based campus. Consider:

Forbes magazine has ranked YSU among America’s Top Colleges.

U.S. News and World Report ranks YSU among the top tier of engineering programs nationwide.

Some 2,270 academic degrees were awarded in the 2014-15 school year, the largest number in more than 30 years.

Faculty scholars were awarded more than $7.2 million in research grants during the first half of the 2015 fiscal year, which is more than double the amount just three years ago.

Clearly then, as our community celebrates the positive attention and honor the scholarship has brought to Orr, it should also celebrate the growing academic enrichment of YSU.

As Orr herself says, “I hope my peers across YSU’s campus take advantage of the amazing opportunities that YSU offers all of us, and further, that they believe, as I do, that YSU students can and are changing the world for the better. I am confident that there will be more YSU Rhodes Scholars.”

As we salute Orr, we also strongly share her conviction that her award will serve as just the start of increased international acclaim for Youngstown State University.