BERMUDIAN student Jay A.H. Butler has hit the headlines again at Harvard University after being named Bermuda's Rhodes Scholar for 2006 — and the only Rhodes Scholar produced by the prestigious Ivy League school this year.Jay, the son of paediatrician Dr. June Hill and Community & Cultural Affairs Minister Dale Butler, is featured in this week's edition of the Harvard Gazette after his Rhodes achievement was featured in campus competitor The Harvard Crimson last month.

"Butler says that he will go to Exeter College at Oxford to read for jurisprudence. 'I want to study law and eventually specialize in human rights ... the best way to make substantial changes in human rights is through the law'," Jay told Gazette staff reporter Bob Brustman. "His interest in human rights extends to the summer of 2004 when he traveled to New Delhi on a Harvard University Committee on Human Rights Studies Summer Internship Grant to work with the South Asian Human Rights Documentation Centre.

"Butler, a history concentrator and an Eliot House resident , is currently writing his thesis on freedom and race relations through the histories of two families in 19th century Bermuda."

Created in 1902 by the will of British philanthropist Cecil Rhodes, the scholarships provide two or three years of study at Oxford University in England. Winners are selected on the basis of high academic achievement, personal integrity, leadership potential, and an interest in extracurricular activities, among other attributes. Harvard students have been awarded at least 319 Rhodes Scholarships.

"When not studying, Butler sings with the Kuumba Singers of Harvard College," reported the Gazette. "He has also played violin in several orchestras, including the Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra. Butler has performed, on violin, with other students from Harvard at a concert in the Cathedral in Bermuda, playing the Vivaldi Concerto Grosso in D inor.

"I also volunteer at the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter," Butler said. "Last year I was a resource advocate, helping people find employment. This year I work the breakfast shift, cooking breakfast once a week."

Jay has won numerous scholastic awards in Bermuda, most recently being named a Bermuda Government Scholar in 2002. At Harvard, Butler has been named a Harvard College Scholar in 2003-04 and again in 2004-05.

Studying at Harvard is something of a tradition in Jay's family.

His great-great-grandfather, George Franklin Grant, D.M.D. 1870, the son of former slaves, studied at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM) and was the University's first African-American faculty member. Butler's great-grandfather also studied at HSDM. His American-born grandmother is veteran Bermuda educator and civil rights pioneer Mrs. Georgine Hill, MBE.

Each year, Bermuda is allowed to select one Rhodes Scholar. While US Rhodes Scholars were announced in November 2005, the International Rhodes Scholars were not announced until January 2006.