Together forever

Together
forever
Friends since day one, senior roommates earn Fulbrights
…………………………………………………………………

BY ELLEN CHANG
Rice News Staff

For the past
three years they have shared rooms at Hanszen College, taken
classes together, studied abroad in Germany for a summer
and shared a common love of and interest in the law.

While the odds
may have been slim, it was not entirely surprising that
Joseph Blocher and Michael Sew Hoy, close friends since
their first day at Rice, would both be chosen as Fulbright
scholars.

“I’m
pretty excited for both of us,” said Sew Hoy, who graduated
with degrees in political science and biology. “I think
it’s kind of funny that both of us received it.”

Four other students
from Rice also were chosen as Fulbright scholars: Gwen Hoben,
Steven Benham, Jae Chung and Margaret Van Meter. Hoben,
who also lived at Hanszen, will be studying tissue engineering
at the University of Freiburg in Germany. Benham, who received
degrees in German and political science, will be a teaching
assistant at the Gymnasium Georgius Agricola in Chemnitz,
Germany. Chung, a graduate student in anthropology, will
be a visiting fellow studying cultural anthropology at Seoul
National University in South Korea. Van Meter, a Will Rice
College biology graduate, will conduct biological research
in Spain.

The Fulbright
Scholarship pays for a year of study abroad for outstanding
students who can cross national and cultural boundaries
to improve international relations.

Sew Hoy said
he was not surprised that Blocher, who received news of
the scholarship in April, was accepted into the program.

“He deserves
it,” Sew Hoy said.

Both students
are taking the next year off to conduct their studies. Blocher,
who graduated with a degree in history, is headed off to
the University of Ghana in Africa to study customary and
English law. Sew Hoy will spend the next year at the National
University of Singapore studying biotech policy.

The two friends
are interested in tackling new topics and learning in different
continents before heading off for three years of law school.
Blocher will be studying at Yale University and Sew Hoy
at the University of Virginia.

“I’m
really looking at it as an adventure,” Blocher said.
“It’s a chance to go to a brand new continent
and to get off the undergraduate track to law school for
a year.”

Sew Hoy, who
was raised in Santa Monica, Calif., said he is looking forward
to extensive study abroad, an opportunity he missed as an
undergraduate because of his double majors.

“I’ve
always wanted to experience that in a nontourist environment,”
he said. “I’m really excited about the opportunity.
I owed it to myself to do it.”