Emma Wintermute, USSU President and College of Arts & Science student, has been announced as one of 107 recipients worldwide of the 2026 Rhodes Scholarship.

The Rhodes Scholarship is an international scholarship that offers exceptional undergraduate students the opportunity to pursue graduate studies at the University of Oxford in England for two years or more years at no cost. Founded in 1902, it is simultaneously one of the oldest international graduate scholarships and one of the most prestigious. 

The recent announcement of USSU President Emma Wintermute’s selection marks the sixth USask student in just four years to be named a Rhodes Scholar—an incredible statistic, considering only 107 students from around the world were selected this year, and just 11 of these spots are allocated to Canadian students.

For Wintermute, a fourth-year student pursuing a Bachelor of Arts double honours in History and Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice studies, the weight of receiving such a prestigious award is not lost, representing new opportunities and some bittersweet emotions. She will begin studies at Oxford University in 2026.

“I’m very humbled and grateful for everything, and the chance to get to go do this in the UK and the community that I’ll get to meet through Rhodes. When I read [about] all the incredible people, all these incredible humans that were selected, ‘I was like, I don’t actually know what I’m doing.’ I’m still processing it for sure. I’ve been having a few emotional moments the last couple [of] weeks, like ‘Oh, I won’t be here next year for this.’ My little sister, she’ll keep doing school, and I won’t be seeing any of it.”

Originally beginning her university career as a Political Science major, Wintermute felt that she was left yearning for more when her classes only briefly touched on feminism. By the end of her first year, she made the switch to Women’s and Gender Studies (now known as Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice Studies), a program which more closely aligned with her interests and helped her grow into her role as an activist in Saskatchewan’s queer community. 

“It helped explain lots of things that I was thinking, seeing, experiencing or reading about that I [didn’t] have the language for. And once I got the language, I was like, this is what I want to do. This is what I want to study. It gave me the experience to actually articulate thoughts that I was having,” Wintermute commented. “I was lucky and had some really great feminist professors who were unconditionally so supportive and so committed to helping students tackle challenges that they were interested in. [They] made social justice very accessible, because I feel like social justice spaces [can feel] very daunting.”

In addition to working as the USSU president, Wintermute has also held a position as a research assistant at the university’s Social Innovation Lab for Gender and Sexual Diversity, allowing her to merge her passion for activism with research. Here, she worked analyzing primary sources which document the history of Saskatchewan’s queer community. Outside of the lab, she has also worked on a project which collects oral histories from queer seniors and early activists from around the province. Emma’s work on both projects is an effort to bring to light and preserve the struggles and triumphs of Saskatchewan’s queer history.

Between her work as an activist and her volunteerism in Campus Rec’s PAAL program, which encourages children with a variety of disabilities to participate in physical activity, it is no wonder Wintermute was selected for the Rhodes Scholarship. Since the scholarship’s inception in 1902, Rhodes applicants have been judged based on a range of  Rhodes Qualities that reflect community engagement and academic excellence. To Wintermute, courage was by far the quality that stuck out to her. 

“The Rhodes qualities [are] what they have us write about when we do our application. I chose the quality courage, [and] I wrote [my application] critiquing some of the Rhodes qualities that they [use]. One of them was ‘sympathy and protection for the weak,’ and I really didn’t like that, because of how it creates this paternalistic idea that removes agency from people. Sympathy is very passive, and does not leave room for autonomy.” Wintermute said. 

“I think that we should be careful about how we think about these qualities and how we portray the community contributions that we do. Even at the USSU, I’m there as a student advocate; I think courage is a quality that I try to bring into every situation. But I will never be able to understand every student’s experience. I will never be able to represent every student’s experience based on my own positionality.”

For Wintermute, courage means to be a part of a new generation of Rhodes Scholars who are changing the legacy of the award, which has been criticized for representing dated, colonialist values. 

“I don’t think anyone should shy away from remaining true to the kind of [person] you are and [to] your opinions. When I started [at the USSU], I wrote a list of things I won’t sell my soul for. I’ve taken a public position on Bill 137 in Saskatchewan, and I have shown up to pro-Palestinian rallies and events, because I believe that there is a genocide in Palestine, and that was something I said in my [Rhodes] interview, too. Another part of courage is accepting that you can have an opinion and someone else can have a different opinion, but it doesn’t mean you can’t work together and still have a shared connection. You recognize that you can’t alienate people just because you have a different perspective, and that perpetuating polarization doesn’t do us any good. To critically question the world around us, we also have to critically question ourselves.”

Cecil Rhodes, who founded the scholarship, was a prominent colonial figure and mining magnate in South Africa who believed it was Britain’s destiny to expand its empire. While the Rhodes scholarship of today provides opportunities for exceptional students from all over the world, scholars from minority groups were historically underrepresented or outright excluded from receiving the award. Women, for example, were explicitly disallowed from receiving the award until 1977. 

“Oxford is a very old institution, and the scholarship wasn’t initially made for women, people of colour or queer people. I am queer, I am a feminist, and I’m not gonna silence that or hide that part of myself. I think I can use my position and change the narrative, and there are a lot of people in the Rhodes Community who are doing that. Many other Rhodes scholars are determined to use this colonialist money that wasn’t made for them for something good, and I really hope to emulate that as well.”

Importantly, for Wintermute, this award does not reflect her achievements alone. Rather, it represents a culmination of opportunities her community has given her, reflecting the hard work of the unseen village behind her.

“Because my work is so community-based … it’s not lost upon me that I would not have gotten [this opportunity] without all those experiences and all of those people. I think there are so many other people doing powerful, important, critical work that are not being highlighted by the Rhodes community. Without their work, it would not be possible for the rest of us over here to do anything that we’re doing. I’ve been really lucky to have had a lot of opportunities and to get to do a lot of things that other students haven’t had the opportunity to do.”

She continued, “Working at the USSU, I am advocating on behalf of student issues, but without all of these students, I would have nothing to advocate for. It’s the same with the queer community. I’m not the only person advocating; there are so many people who are showing up, doing things and putting in their time and their effort to these causes, and that is more important than me going away for two years and doing a master’s degree. I’m trying to be very aware that it’s because of so many people that I get to do this, and I want to be able to continue to give back and actively support the community that made me who I am.”

Congratulations Emma on this incredible achievement!