Alumna Advances the World: Sophie Huttner ’18 Named Rhodes Scholar

Kent Place is proud to announce that Yale senior Sophie Huttner — Kent Place Class of 2018 — has been named a 2023 Rhodes Scholar. Sophie, a global affairs major, is one of just 32 students out of a competitive pool of more than 2,500 selected for the prestigious academic program, which is hosted by the University of Oxford.

Rhodes Scholarships pay all expenses for two or three years of study at Oxford, and Scholars are chosen for academic excellence, a commitment to making a positive difference in the world, a concern for the welfare of others, a consciousness of inequities, and their promise of leadership.

This achievement is no surprise to many who knew Sophie during her years at KPS, as she was a leader inside and outside the classroom. In the fall 2022 issue of Kent Place magazine, Sophie spoke about the Bioethics Project, a program of The Ethics Institute, which helped shape her personally and professionally. The theme when Sophie participated was medical decision-making. “What interested me,” Sophie said, “was the idea that there’s an ethical dimension to every professional realm.”

“Sophie's ability to understand the ethical dimensions of diverse situations is what made her a legendary ethics student,” says Karen Rezach, Director of the Ethics Institute at Kent Place. “I recall vividly the moment before our girls won the final round of the 2018 National Championships at the University of North Carolina, when Sophie looked at me and said so confidently, ‘We got this!’ Her ethical leadership skills have continued to make an impact as she teaches ethics education to the youth of New Haven in the Ulysses S. Grant Yale Summer Program and now as a Rhodes Scholar. I couldn’t be happier for Sophie — she has certainly earned the distinction!”

Sophie plans to concentrate on refugee and forced migration studies at Oxford: "I became interested in immigration issues while studying at Kent Place,” she says, “and have continued to work with asylum seekers while at Yale. I hope to use my time at Oxford to better understand the gaps in our current asylum and refugee law, to better help those most in need of protection.”

Sophie is a shining example of an alumna living Kent Place’s mission of empowering girls to be confident, intellectual, and ethical leaders who advance the world. The Kent Place community looks forward eagerly to hearing about all that Sophie will accomplish, in New Haven, at Oxford, and beyond.