Zohar Atkins, Montclair resident and senior at Brown University was selected as one of the Rhodes Scholars for 2010.
Atkins is currently a senior at Brown University where he is studying for a bachelors degree in classics and Judaic studies and a masters degree in history.
Atkins is one of 32 Americans chosen for the scholarship that provides all expenses for two or three years of schooling at the University of Oxford, where plans on pursuing a doctorate in theology.
NJ.com reports:
Brooklyn, N.Y. native, Atkins’ family moved to Montclair when he was five. A product of the town’s school system, he feels “blessed” to have grown up in the northern Jersey community.
“I owe a lot to my parents, my synagogue, and the school system, all of which helped me accomplish my dreams, as well as the incredibly rich education I’ve received at Brown,” he said.
Congratulations to Zohar!
btw, love the name.
You don’t mess with the Zohar!
Yes, congrats…that’s some honor. And ditto on the name.
How exciting!!!
Congrats Zohar!!!
And please note all: the prof is SHOCKED that a Rhodes Scholars came from our public schools.
SHOCKED….
But this proves what I write here often: our best and brightest can compete and win against any and all comers!!!
I also see this as my tax dollars at work.
Congrats also to his family and all his wonderful teachers!
Comment deleted
Huh?
Congratulations to Zohar and his family!
If I’m not mistaken, MHS also had an alumni make it all the way to the finals of the Rhodes Scholarship in 2006, but didn’t make the final cut. Still quite a feat and he was the product of the Montclair School system.
Congratulations to Zohan and his family.
but what Montclair public grammar school did he attend?
The 2005/6 Finalist was Watchung from Kindergarten on, then Mt Hebron and MHS. I’m unsure about which Zohar attended.
Mt. Hebron??
But I heard that that school is 1) PUBLIC and 2) has low State scores.
Surely this must be a mistake.
No kid from Montclair public schools could possibly achieve his high level of education….
(…. this is fun!)
Impressive.
Congratulations to Zohar and her family.
I am rather upset that my comment was deleted. Maybe you thought I was being anti-semitic; I would like to explain and then you can judge. I was simply making the point (in a flippant way, I admit) that Jewish families tend to provide more support around education than those of other faiths and cultures. This is true in my experience. I don’t know if this translates into better academic performance by Jewish kids compared to those of other backgrounds. But it certainly seems true that Jewish people have made a far bigger contribution to the nation’s intellectual life than you’d think from the proportion of the population. I don’t understand how this could be construed as hateful (though my original comment did took an unfair swipe at Montclair schools), but if you think it is, then please delete this comment, too.
I got it cain. Seemed clear to me.
“I was simply making the point (in a flippant way, I admit) that Jewish families tend to provide more support around education than those of other faiths and cultures.”
Cain, you should spend some time with a few Asian families.
You’re right.
No one is smarter than James Caan, for example.
‘Cept maybe Adam Sandler.
prof, although I know its not a concern for you, I can’t help but notice that lately….
YOU’RE GETTING NO LOVE ON THE THUMBS!!!
I know that cathar and ROC and lefty/laser and of course TP2 are used to being slammed by the voting public, but why you all of a sudden?
For what its worth, I give you a thumbs up almost all of the time (hoping to be invited for a pig roast once summer rolls around).
Does that mean you’ve given up all hope you’ll someday be invited to my annual midsummer’s day auto da fe, croiagusanam?
Congratulations to Zohar and the entire Atkins family!!
I know some of you mean well, but can we leave the ethnic aspect out of this? It really is insulting – not only to Jews but to all.
What if he had a more “generic” name and was studying economics? Is it because he is a Judaic studies major and has a Hebrew name that brings the assumptions about how he was raised?
Ethnicity has very little to do with achievement. There are high and low achievers pretty much everywhere.
Have you looked in the White House lately? And lets not forget about Bill Clinton’s background.
As for “W” that proves my case right there! You just never know which kid is going to crash the car into the garage only to later become President of the United States of America!!!
No, cathar.
I have a great many things (and folks) I’d like to heave on the fire.
Well, then, croiagusanam, I’ll make sure to invite you next summer. You won’t even have to bring your own (a word which actually first and foremost means “dried branches” but others would surely misread and misinterpret because of their own lack of genuine literacy), just make sure those folks you’d like to immolate have first had a chance to make their last confessions.
And if you can locate Mathilda, she can serve as her very own “contribution” to global warming!
Thanks cro,
I HATE the thumbs up/down and think some of us get a THUMBS DOWN no matter what (see my test post below).
And on such a cold, dank day the thought of pig smokin’ out back with my baristanet friends- and foes– sounds like fun.
Perhaps…….
I love bunnies.
They are cute.
They are soft.
They make people happy.
**&&( YOU!!!!
Bunnies suck!!!!
Would I be invited, prof? Would I be a friend or foe???
We could put on some Chris Botti and serve up some delicious sides like kale chips and fried potatoes with garlic salt. What say you?
Here’s a link to an essay written by Zohar:
http://www.eliewieselfoundation.org/CM_Images//UploadedImages/1st%20Prize%20-%20Zohar%20Atkins.pdf
Terrific job. His parents should be congratualted for a job well done.
This cozy love fest is getting to be a bit much. Once cro, prof and cathar start making nice all is lost. I’ll have to go back to actually working.
Of course, tudlow.
You’d be on the list.
But, I should remember, anyone invited into my house is a friend.
However, with kale chips in hand, you might not make it in.
THEY. WERE. TERRIBLE.
Did you try to make ‘em?
I did, actually! And guess what, I ate the whole batch myself. My kids ate them, too, as well as my greens-hatin’ husband. How funny. I did douse the hell of out them with olive oil so they were plenty greasy and crunchy.
But, being a guest at your home, I would never bring a side you would not enjoy. If cro is going to be there, maybe I would bring some Rocky Mountain Oysters….
I’ve known the whole Atkins family since they moved into Montclair. Used to drive him, his brother and sister to school along with my kids. They’re lovely people–congratulations Zohar! Aye, laddie, I knew ye back when…