By Alvin Powell

Special to the Gazette

Five Harvard students were named Rhodes Scholars last weekend, four of them from the United States, giving Harvard the most Rhodes Scholars in the nation for the sixth year in a row.

The group is comprised by seniors Julia Raiskin, Valerie J. MacMillan, Owen Wozniak, and Roy Bahat, and Kennedy School of Government graduate student John McArthur, who won a Canadian Rhodes. They come from all over the United States and from British Columbia.

The students, concentrating in everything from cultural anthropology to history and literature, will spend the next two years studying at Oxford University in England, compliments of the estate of British philanthropist and colonial leader Cecil Rhodes, which set up the scholarship program in 1902.

The prestigious scholarship pays tuition and fees and provides a stipend of about $10,000 annually. It can be extended to a maximum of three years.

The U.S. winners were selected from a pool of 989 applicants from 314 colleges and universities, and only 32 winners were chosen. Scholarships are given to students from 18 countries all over the world, 11 to Canadian students.

"Over the past 30 years, Harvard has had an average of about 5.3 U.S. Rhodes Scholars a year," according to Paul Bohlmann, director of fellowships in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences' Office of Career Services. "We've had as few as zero and as many as 10. It's a really impressive average, given the enormous competition for these awards."

Scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic achievement, leadership, and involvement in extracurricular and athletic activities. U.S. winners this year came from 26 colleges and universities. After Harvard, Wellesley College, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Princeton University had two scholarship winners each.

Bridging the Gap with Russia

Julia Raiskin left Russia with her family eight years ago, stripped of her Russian citizenship. Today, as a Rhodes Scholar, Raiskin wants to build on her personal experience in hopes of one day helping to bridge the gap between the former Soviet giant and the rest of the world. Raiskin plans to pursue a M.Phil. in Russian and East European studies during her time at Oxford University.

Raiskin lives in Pforzheimer House and is concentrating in social anthropology. She hails from Fort Lee, N.J. In addition to the Rhodes Scholarship, Raiskin has collected a host of awards and fellowships, including a Harvard College Research award, a Dean's Summer Research Award, and a Russian Research Center Undergraduate Fellowship, as well as the Schaffield Prize of the Anthropology Department. She also has served as president of the Harvard Perspective, a monthly opinion magazine.

Reaching as High as They Can

Counseling children at the Mission Hill Afterschool Program gave Roy Bahat a clue to his lifeÕs work. Working with the kids there made Bahat, a social studies concentrator who lives in Leverett House, realize he wants to help others live up to their potential. Bahat is planning to pursue an M.Phil. in economics, with a focus on urban economics, during his years at Oxford, hoping to learn how cities can be set up to help people achieve their potential.

After that, the New York City native hopes to continue the kind of work he began as a counselor and instructor at Mission Hill, as president of the Phillips Brooks House Association, and as a board member of the Washington, D.C.-based University Neighborhood Initiative, which provides services for low-income families and which is now affiliated with AmeriCorps.

Protecting Nature

It took Valerie J. MacMillan almost a year to realize she missed Idaho Ñ before the dazzle behind Boston's urban lights eventually faded, outdone by the beauty of coyote-heralded sunrises.

But retiring to the desert isn't on the agenda for MacMillan, a thoroughly engaged government concentrator who lives in Adams House. The Rhodes Scholar plans to use her two years at Oxford to gain two M.Sc. degrees, one in environmental change and management, and a second in industrial relations and human resource management. She hopes to put that knowledge to work with a career in natural resource policy.

Energy shouldn't be a problem for MacMillan, whose hometown is Eagle, Idaho. In addition to her studies, MacMillan puts in 80-plus hours per week as managing editor of the Harvard Crimson. She has also found time to teach civics in a Boston school as part of the Phillips Brooks House Association, and to design and edit a 40-page booklet for incoming international students.

A Writer and a Teacher

Owen S. Wozniak's journey of self-discovery led to an exploration of American culture, and then of other cultures, and ultimately to a realization that one's self isn't to be found as much as created.

Wozniak, a history and literature concentrator who lives at Quincy House, is planning to continue his journey -- now an examination of the world around him -- as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford seeking an M.Phil. in modern European literature. He has already traveled from his home in Anchorage, Alaska, to Harvard, to Germany and back to Harvard. As he worked to understand American culture, Wozniak also treated its ills. He taught conflict resolution and anger management to South Boston sixth-graders, volunteered at Harvard's student-run homeless shelter, and led incoming Harvard freshmen on a weeklong backpacking trip. He looks forward to a career writing and teaching and sharing his discoveries.

A Foundation for the Future

John McArthur is looking to an Oxford law degree as a foundation upon which to build a career in public service when he returns to his native Canada. McArthur, who is pursuing a masterÕs degree in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government, believes successful leaders need a solid understanding of the workings of law and government. He hopes to enhance his own understanding of Canada's government by studying its British roots while at Oxford.

A native of Vancouver, British Columbia, McArthur sees his future in public service, and possibly one day in elected office. McArthur has already gotten a taste of government work, spending a summer at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C., working as a liaison officer to the World Bank. He also edits the international section of the Citizen, a Harvard newspaper.