Three McMaster students reached the final interview stage of the selection process for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarships this year.

While Kristen Abels, Cassidy Bereskin and Rakhshan Kamran weren’t among the 102 Scholars-elect announced for the 2021 school year, their accomplishments are still impressive, including a 12.0 grade-point average, a passion for engaging youth in municipal politics and a dedication to gender-affirming medicine.

Eleven Rhodes Scholarships are awarded in Canada each year, two of which go to students from Ontario. McMaster has had at least 16 Rhodes Scholars since 1904: Ralph Bellamy, who graduated from McMaster in 1902, was one of the first 11 Rhodes Scholars from Canada, gaining that honour in 1904.

McMaster’s most recent Rhodes Scholars were Sheiry Dhillon (2011), Matthew Jordan (2017) and Nina Acharya (2019).

Three McMaster students have made it to the final round only once before.

The finals involve a reception for all finalists, then an individual interview. Because of pandemic restrictions this year, both were held on Zoom.

Here’s a little more about McMaster’s Rhodes finalists this year.

Kristen Abels grew up in Oakville, only 20 minutes away from McMaster. A chemical engineering student, she managed to maintain a perfect grade-point average while working as a peer tutor and teaching assistant. A dedicated athlete, she’s coached a girls’ hockey team for the past couple of years,  and made it a habit to participate in intramural sports like soccer, flag football or ultimate frisbee. With sports on hold for the year, she’s now a writer for the McMaster Energy Association.

On her road to Rhodes: “I am extremely grateful for the support and encouragement I received from my friends, professors and family – it really means the world to me, even though I wasn’t ultimately selected. The process also gave me a chance to meet the two other amazing Rhodes finalists from McMaster and get to learn what they’re passionate about!”

Cassidy Bereskin grew up in Toronto. While she was in high school, concerned by the Rob Ford mayoral scandal and low youth participation in elections, she and a few friends started a non-profit organization called Model City Hall. They booked Toronto’s City Hall and invited 100 other high school students from the GTA to assume the role of a city councillor for the day. Once she came to McMaster to study political science, she worked with other McMaster and local high school students to start the program up again. To make the conference sustainable, she’s been working the political science department to make it part of a fourth-year public policy class. Most recently, she received the Chancellor’s gold medal, one of McMaster’s most prestigious awards.

On her road to Rhodes: “This was profoundly helpful in so many ways – both meeting the diverse and distinguished group of finalists and panelists, but also thinking back to all of the things that I’ve done over the past few years: thinking about what motivated me to do what I did, and what do I want to do with the things I’ve done and the values that have animated those pursuits. I’m so grateful to my mentors who have helped me along the way.”

Rakhshan Kamran grew up in Hamilton and describes himself as a “Mac lifer.” A second-year medical student, he also completed an undergraduate degree in life sciences at Mac. He’s particularly focused on researching how Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMS) – tools that measure how people feel and function before and after treatment – can be used in gender-affirming care for individuals who are transgender or gender-diverse and transitioning into a gender that aligns with their gender identity. Passionate about music, he’s had a morning radio show on CFMU, playing new Canadian artists that might not get airplay on mainstream stations.

On his road to Rhodes: “The process helped me reflect, and it affirmed what my goals were – it made me motivated. Everybody faces their own challenges in achieving their goals, but it made me feel OK about that. I’m motivated enough about this research and I’m even more excited to pursue it. I really want to make this happen. I’m really thankful to everyone who’s helped me along the way. This is about more than me – everything I’ve done has been a team effort and the result of a lot of people working together.”