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WA
Two State Students
Get Rhodes Honors
from The Seattle Times,
by Jason Margolis
For more articles visit
www.bridges4kids.org.
Cyrus Habib a Columbia University senior from Kirkland and a
Georgetown University graduate from Spokane will go to Oxford.
Two college
students from Washington were selected for the centennial
class of Rhodes scholars. Cyrus Habib of Kirkland, who attends
Columbia University, and Anthony House from Spokane, a
Georgetown University graduate, will join 30 other Americans
next fall at Oxford University in England. Habib, 21, studies
English, comparative literature and Mideast studies as an
undergraduate senior, but in his spare time dabbles in
computer programming and has designed a program to convert
text applications to speech using the Linux operating system.
He is a published photographer, studies martial arts and is a
downhill skier. And he's blind.
Habib, the son
of Mo Habib and Susan Amini, was diagnosed with retinal
blastoma, a cancer of the eye, at the age of 9. He was treated
with chemotherapy and radiation, and his retinas were removed
to excise the tumors. Born in Maryland but raised in Bellevue
after he was 9, Habib attended the International School from
the sixth through the 12th grades. He said being a disabled
student at a public school was a struggle, especially fighting
for supplies to accommodate his blindness.
Learning from
that frustrating experience, Habib said he has fought to
improve the quality of education for students with
disabilities. Besides designing a free computer program to
help blind students work on computers, Habib is the president
of the campus group "Columbians Organized for Disability
Advocacy." Habib also uses his artistry to help present a
voice for the blind. As a photographer, he recently was
commissioned by the Princeton Architectural Press to take
photos of New York City. "The photos were taken walking around
different neighborhoods, based on my experiences of the city,
looking at how we imagine visually without using the eyes," he
said yesterday.
Habib hasn't
picked his exact course of study for Oxford yet; he just
learned of his award on Saturday. But he would like to use the
coveted scholarship to study comparative literature, English
and Middle Eastern texts. "By virtue of Britain's relationship
with the Mideast and Africa, Oxford has a wealth of resources
on Middle East culture and literature."
Besides the
actual words, Habib says he wants to continue his academic
focus on the way we learn "with our sense of visuals versus
auditory versus tactile." After the two-year stint in England,
Habib plans to return to the U.S. and attend law school. Habib
has worked for lawyer-turned-senator Hillary Clinton, the wife
of another famous Rhodes scholar. Spokane's House, who turns
22 tomorrow, earned Georgetown's highest award in
history as a graduating senior and an award for his community
service.
He is now
working with the homeless in Portland and plans to earn a
master's in economics and social history at Oxford.
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