Bermuda Rhodes Scholarship
(back)

Press Announcement
(See also: Bermuda Royal Gazette, 2 May 2017 & Bermuda Royal Gazette, 8 May 2017)
(Click on Picture to Enlarge)

The Bermuda Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee is pleased to announce that Mr Peter Merritt has been selected as Bermuda's Rhodes Scholar 2017. Peter is the son of Patricia Merritt of Paget Parish and Martin Merritt of Hamilton Parish, Bermuda.

Peter attended Saltus Grammar School until 2005. He then went to Gilman School in Maryland, USA, completing his studies in 2012. While at Gilman, Peter was an Honor Roll student and graduated near the top of his class as an AP Scholar with Distinction. He was a member of the National Cum Laude Society and the Gilman Jazz Ensemble as the lead drummer.

In 2012, Peter was admitted to Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. He graduated from Yale in 2016 with a Double Major in Political Science & Economics, earning Distinction and Magna Cum Laude Latin honors. His senior thesis analyzed the conflicts between religious liberty and LGBT anti-discrimination protections in the United States and around the world. While at Yale, Peter was also the recipient of the Bank of Bermuda Sir Henry Tucker College Scholarship.

Peter has been a contributing writer to the Yale Journal of Medicine and Law, evaluating the impact of laws on various medical issues. He has also debated at the Yale Law School Law & Religion Group and acted as a research assistant for Law Professor Patrick Weil. Currently, he is working at J.P. Morgan and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP in New York City.

Peter is an accomplished athlete. While at Gilman, he was captain of the school Track & Field team, broke three school records, won 11 conference championships and was a two-time All-American athlete. Peter was also on the Varsity Track & Field team at Yale and competed at the Ivy League and IC4A Championships, as well as in the Harvard-Yale meet. He has completed the New York and Chicago marathons and spent one summer cycling across the United States.

In college, Peter headed a Yale Hunger and Homeless Action Project group that delivered food to New Haven halfway houses helping formerly incarcerated individuals re-integrate into society. He also was a school tutor and mentor while at Gilman, and founded a student-run, peer-to-peer tutoring program in Baltimore known as the Genius Movement to coach students in preparation for national competitions.

Peter plans to read for the MPhil in Politics (Comparative Government) at University College.

 John C.R. Collis
Secretary, Bermuda Rhodes Scholarship
P.O. Box HM 3363
Hamilton HM PX, Bermuda
Tel: +1 441 232 4098 & Fax: +1 441 236 6885
Email: johncollis@ozone.bm
www.rhodes.bm