W&L to Host Reception Honoring Rhodes Scholar Paqui Toscano

By News Office
March 17, 2017

Washington and Lee will host a reception in honor of Paqui Toscano, the university’s 16th Rhodes Scholar, on Friday, March 17, from 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. in the Elrod Commons Living Room. All members of the university community are invited to attend.

Toscano, a classics and English double major from Kettering, Ohio, was one of 32 Rhodes Scholars chosen this year. The scholarships, valued at between $50,000 to $200,000, fully fund two to four years of study at the University of Oxford in England.

The Rhodes Scholarships were created in 1902 by the will of Cecil Rhodes, a British philanthropist and African colonial pioneer. They are awarded on the basis of academic excellence, personal energy, ambition for impact, ability to work with others, a commitment to making a strong difference for good in the world, concern for the welfare of others, consciousness of inequities and potential for leadership.

Toscano, a Johnson Scholar at Washington and Lee, is proficient in Latin and Ancient Greek and plans to pursue a master’s in English and a master’s in Greek and/or Latin languages and literature at Oxford. After completing his studies in the U.K., he plans to return to the U.S. to complete a doctorate in English with a specialty in early-modern poetry, and pursue a career as a professor, scholar and disability-rights advocate.