Two Saltus Grammar School students have been selected as Bermuda’s Rhodes Scholars.

The Bermuda Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee announced that Nicholas Barton is the scholar for 2016 and Peter Merritt as the scholar for 2017.

Mr Barton graduated from Saltus in 2012 as head boy having achieved 11 GCSEs and eight Advanced Placements and won numerous awards, including the subject prizes in six subjects, the SGY Attainment Award for outstanding scholarship, the SGY Science Award, the Belco Mathematics Award, and the Peter Wittich Award. He was also awarded the SGY University Scholarship for overall contribution to School life.

After Saltus, he entered Princeton University in New Jersey and graduated with Honours in June 2016 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Astrophysical Sciences. While at Princeton, Mr Barton held both the Nicholl Scholarship and the Fesseden-Trott Scholarship, awarded for scholastic and academic ability, and was elected to the Sigma Xi Research Society.

In 2016, Nicholas started at Imperial College, London where he is studying computational mathematics and numerical analysis. He expects to graduate in September 2017 with an MSc in Applied Mathematics.

Mr Merritt attended Saltus Grammar School until 2005 and went to Gilman School in Maryland, completing his studies in 2012. While at Gilman, Mr Merritt was an Honor Roll student and graduated near the top of his class as an AP Scholar with Distinction. He was a member of the National Cum Laude Society and the Gilman Jazz Ensemble as the lead drummer.

In 2012, he was admitted to Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. He graduated from Yale in 2016 with a double major in Political Science and Economics, earning Distinction and Magna Cum Laude Latin honours. His senior thesis analysed the conflicts between religious liberty and LGBT anti-discrimination protections in the United States and around the world. While at Yale, he was also the recipient of the Bank of Bermuda Sir Henry Tucker College Scholarship.

Peter has been a contributing writer to the Yale Journal of Medicine and Law, evaluating the impact of laws on various medical issues. He has also debated at the Yale Law School Law and Religion Group and acted as a research assistant for Law Professor Patrick Weil. Currently, he is working at JP Morgan and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP in New York City and plans to read for the MPhil in Politics (Comparative Government) at University College.