
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, December 7, 1993                   TAG: 9312070161
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

W&M MAN MAKES RHODES SCHOLAR

Andrew J. Zawacki, a former long-jumper for the College of William and Mary, took the biggest leap of his academic career when he became one of the nation's 32 Rhodes Scholarship winners.

The senior from Warren, Pa., said he will pursue his master's degree in English studies, with a special emphasis on literature from 1880 to 1980, at Oxford University in England. He probably will do his thesis on poet T.S. Eliot, he said.

Zawacki, 21, learned after interviews with Rhodes Scholarship judges in Atlanta on Saturday that he had won the scholarship.

"The first thing I did was call my friends and family," he said in a telephone interview from his dormitory room Sunday night. "Everyone in my hometown was really ecstatic."

Judges chose the winners from among about 1,200 applicants.

Zawacki said the interviews were rigorous, focusing primarily on his academic interest and leadership experience - but branching into other topics as well.

One of the items on his resume that caught the interest of the judges was his membership in Alpha Phi Alpha, a predominantly black fraternity. Zawacki is white.

"It's extremely service-oriented," Zawacki said. "The chapter at William and Mary is very dedicated to service in the community and on campus."

Zawacki was a member of the track team for two years, and he is editor of the William and Mary Review, a literary magazine. The annual publication includes the work of authors throughout the world.

Zawacki said his career goal is to write "social poetry, poetry criticism and social criticism."

by CNB