Bajan is 2021 Rhodes Scholar

Barbadian Trey Cumberbatch is the 2021 Rhodes Scholar for the Commonwealth Caribbean.

The announcement was made on Tuesday by Barbados’ Governor General Dame Sandra Mason after the Selection Committee which she chaired chose the recipient from a total of eight regional candidates.

Cumberbatch, 23, beat out two St Lucians, a Grenadian, a Dominican, one candidate from Antigua and Barbuda and two from Trinidad and Tobago.

Dame Sandra said all the candidates were more than well qualified for the scholarship, but she was particularly pleased that a Barbadian had been selected this year.

“Each one of them could have easily been given this scholarship because they have vision, and we know wherever they go they will do credit to [their] nations,” she said.

The Selection Committee included Professor Evelyn O’Callaghan, Bertha Liverpool-Pilgrim, Ricky Skerritt and former Chief Justice of Barbados Sir Marston Gibson.

Cumberbatch, who graduated with a BSc. Physiology (First Class Honours) from the University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill campus, plans to pursue a Masters in Evidence-Based Social Intervention.

He said he hopes to make a noticeable impact on the mental health support system in Barbados by writing modern policy initiatives.

“I very much want to be at the forefront in terms of the development of that policy and making sure that policy meets the mental health needs of the Barbadian population. I think as a society and as a culture, we have ignored it for far too long and we need to have it written in policy that mental health is important and have things in place to make sure that people have access to health care,” he stated.

During an interview at his home, Cumberbatch offered some words of advice for others thinking of applying for the Rhodes Scholarship at some point.

“Don’t sell yourself short. There is a chance that you may be exactly what they are looking for because, I’m not going to lie, up to a couple minutes after the interview I was being really hard on myself. I was like ‘Trey, you messed up that question, man, and yes you did your best but was it really enough, are you what they are looking for in a Rhodes Scholar?’ I could not have known that until I applied and, well, clearly I am, so don’t sell yourself short,” he advised.

The Rhodes Scholarship was established back in 1902 by Cecil John Rhodes, and over the last 100 years it has enabled young persons from all around the world to undertake full-time postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford.