West Point cadet from Fox Island named Rhodes Scholar

A West Point cadet from Washington state has been named a 2010 Rhodes Scholar.

Elizabeth Betterbed of the small community of Fox Island on the southern tip of the Puget Sound was named among the scholarship winners early Sunday.

She was one of 32 men and women from across the United States selected from 805 applicants endorsed by 326 different colleges and universities.

The American student will join an international group of scholars selected from 14 other jurisdictions around the world. Approximately 80 scholars are selected each year.

The value of the scholarships averages to about $50,000 per year.

Betterbed is a senior at West Point, where she is majoring in mechanical engineering.

"She's grabbed every opportunity in life and looks for new challenges every day," her father Thomas Betterbed said Sunday. "She likes to earn her accolades."

The 21-year-old grew up loving soccer, becoming an All-American athlete. In 2006, she graduated from Gig Harbor High School. She decided to apply to West Point, seeking a challenge for her college years, her father said.

On Sunday, Betterbed was flying back to the East Coast after visiting Seattle for her scholarship interview.

"She called us last evening, and said: 'Guess what? I won,"' her father said.

Betterbed majors in mechanical engineering at West Point, where she is ranked first overall in her class.

She is also a member of a team that's designing and building a powered prosthetic foot to allow wounded soldiers to run. Betterbed has also won awards for her work in mechanical engineering.

The scholarships announced early Sunday provide all expenses for two or three years of study at the University of Oxford in England.

Rhodes scholarships were created in 1902 by the estate of British philanthropist Cecil Rhodes. Winners are selected on the basis of high academic achievement, personal integrity, leadership potential and physical vigor, among other attributes.