PHILADELPHIA -- David Ferreira, a University of Pennsylvania senior from Hamilton, Bermuda, has been awarded the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship.  He plans to pursue a Bachelor of Laws degree in his first two years at Oxford University in England, followed by a Master of Jurisprudence in his final year.

Approximately 95 Rhodes scholars are named annually with non-U.S. Rhodes scholars selected from 18 international jurisdictions around the world.  Bermuda names only one Rhodes Scholar each year.

Ferreira, a Politics, Philosophy and Economics major in Penn's College of Arts and Sciences, is the son of Pamela and the late Alvin Ferreira.  

At Penn he has played on the varsity men's squash team, the men's club rugby team, the men's club soccer team and this year will try out for the men's club baseball team.  In Bermuda, Ferreira has been a member of the under-19, under-21 and under-23 international cricket teams and was recently called onto the full international squad to represent his country in the upcoming World Cup qualifying matches.  He has also been Atlantic Junior Open Golf champion and won several medals in giant slalom skiing competitions in France, Switzerland and Austria.

In the summer of 2003, Ferreira served as a speechwriter on the election campaign team of the new United Bermuda Party.  At Penn he is currently a member of the PPE department's Undergraduate

Assembly Board and the vice-president and philanthropy chair of the Owl Society of Philadelphia.

"I'm extremely honored to be able to represent my home country in England and return there to study at Oxford," Ferreira said.  Born in Bermuda, he moved to England as a child, attending boarding schools while his parents attended law school.

"The best way to describe David Ferreira is 'thoughtful,' in the richest sense of the word," said Arthur D. Casciato, director of Penn's Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships.  "I'm not the least bit surprised that the Selection Committee chose David from among the 10 or so finalists for Bermuda's Rhodes Scholarship for 2004.  He will make his family, his country and Penn all proud at Oxford."

Ferreira is the 17th Rhodes Scholar from Penn.

"It is timely," Casciato said, "that David Ferreira's award comes in President Judith Rodin's final year at Penn since she, along with Provost Robert Barchi, and Deputy Provost Peter Conn, has been so supportive of having more Penn students compete for fellowships to pursue graduate study abroad."

Upon graduation from Oxford, Ferreira plans to return home to practice law.  His sister and mother made legal history in Bermuda in 2002 when they became the first mother and daughter to be called to the bar together.

The Rhodes Scholarship was established in 1902 by the will of Cecil John Rhodes, British financier and stateman.  Candidates must be between 19 and 25 years old and citizens of the countries from which they are selected. The qualities set out by Rhodes for those seeking Rhodes Scholarships include academic and intellectual excellence, integrity of character, respect for fellow beings and a capacity for leadership. Athletic prowess and success is an advantage but not a necessity.