Garrett Lam, a 2012 Wellesley High School graduate who is currently a senior at Harvard University with a joint concentration in neurobiology and philosphy, has been named one of 16 Rhodes Scholarship winners for 2016. One of Pam and James Lam‘s three sons, Garrett will study philosophy at Oxford through the scholarship, which is awarded to just 32 American men and women annually.
The “oldest and best known award for international study,” according to the Rhodes Trust itself, Rhodes Scholarships provide all expenses for 2 or 3 years of study at the University of Oxford in England.
According to the bio distributed via the Rhodes Trust, Lam “is interested in philosophical problems of free will, moral responsibility, and punishment, and has career interests in criminal justice reform. He is an active advocate of the effective altruism movement, was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Review of Philosophy, was one of two undergraduates on Harvard’s Committee on General Education, and is Executive Editor of the Harvard Crimson.”
Garrett’s mother, Pam, says “We are still in disbelief, happy and proud beyond words.”
The young man told Associated Press that “It’s really a dream come true. Oxford is the hub of all the things I really care about.”
Lam told AP that he wants to go into criminal justice reform and change the “current punitive sentences that we have.”
Yeah, yeah, that’s all very impressive, but we know this is what will really take Lam places. He also holds the Guinness World Record for the longest time standing on a Swiss Ball.
Leave a Reply