Russian language major and figure skater to study philosophy at England's Oxford University
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Medianews Staff and Wire Services
Nov. 19 -- A 2007 UC Berkeley graduate has been selected as one of 32 Rhodes Scholars from the United States for 2008.
Asya Passinsky, a Fremont resident and 2003 graduate of Mission San Jose High School, plans to study philosophy at England's Oxford University.
Winners were chosen in a selection process from among 764 applicants for the coveted, more than century-old scholarship, whose past recipients include former President Clinton.
"I was completely stunned ... completely shocked," Passinsky, 22, said in a telephone interview Sunday. She found out about her selection Saturday evening after going through a set of interviews for regional Rhodes finalists at the U C San Francisco campus at Mission Bay.
Passinsky, who graduated from UC Berkeley in May, said she didn't expect to win -- and that may have been a key to her selection. "I wasn't very nervous and approached the interviews as a conversation with professors and friends. I thought it would be a good experience no matter what happened," she said, adding she couldn't pinpoint any one reason for her selection. "I tried to do as well as I could in the interviews."...
Passinsky is a longtime figure skater, freelance arts reviewer and sometimes investigative journalist for a Russian newspaper.
Passinsky was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, but she moved with her parents to Fremont at age 3 in 1989....
At UC Berkeley, Passinsky majored in Russian language and literature, as well as political economy of industrialized societies. But she now aspires to be a philosopher. Since her graduation in May, she has been taking philosophy classes.
While at UC Berkeley, she and a friend formed the figure skating team, which enjoyed regional success. She applied for the Rhodes scholarship at the urging of professors and friends. Passinsky writes performing arts reviews as a freelancer and has worked as an investigative reporter for the Exile, a newspaper in Moscow....
