Email

Print

Godoy sat down with Cherisse Halsall to reflect on her academic and activist careers thus far and how they prepared her for what will be her entry into one of the leading universities in the world.

She's won the Rhodes Scholarship and now Abbie Godoy is receiving praise from her country, charitable organizations of which she is a member, and the University to which she has done credit. We asked her what it feels like to be a Rhodes scholar.

Abbie Godoy
"At first it was very shocking and I couldn't believe it but now I've come to terms with it and it's amazing."

Cherisse Halsall, reporter
"Are you the first Student from the University of Belize to receive a Rhodes scholarship?"

Abbie Godoy
"As far as we know, and I want to be very clear, as far as I know I would be the first University of Belize student to receive it."

"Right now I'm not 100% excited yet because I still have to apply to Oxford like I said you have to prove that you can fund yourself before you can apply to the school so I still need to apply and get accepted."

Godoy will likely pursue an MPhil in Developmental Studies at Oxford.

Cherisse Halsall:
"Why Developmental Studies?"

Abbie Godoy
"I have a passion for humanitarian aid and the only way that I can influence policy the only way that I can influence the way society gets built is if I understand how our society has already been constructed in the past how did colonialism, how does the way we're viewed by the world influence our decisions today and thats what I want to learn and then I want to bring that back home and implement it here."

Godoy is the daughter of a single mother and comes from a tight knit family. It's obvious when speaking to the accomplished young woman that her older sister has had a big role to play in her development.

Abbie Godoy
"My mom's family came from El Salvador right before the war and my dad is Belizean and so I was born in Belize at Loma Luz hospital. It was a very interesting childhood."

Ahead of winning this scholarship Abbie has been known for various charitable efforts.

Abbie Godoy
"It all started when I was very, very young my older sister and my mom were really big fans of the Belize Red cross so my sister was in highschool. I wasn't in high school yet so my sister being older was kind of in charge of me and so she wanted to go volunteering and my mom said well you know you have to take your little sister with you and so that's what she did and thats how I first got introduced to this."

Now Godoy wants to help young Belizeans take advantage of all the opportunities they have to attain further education through scholarships.

Abbie Godoy
"I think it's important that universities start to prep you for some of these things for example I have reached almost to my bachelors and I have never had to write a personal statement about who I am I mean you write one when you apply to university but it's not something major because your just out of highschool so I think there's processes like etiquette. I mean your sitting at table with the governor general and if you don't know how to use a knife and fork, and that's just something that we just assume that everybody knows but no there is like a whole entire mannerism to table eating."

"This is actually something I want to work on is starting up some kind of program for scholarships that aren't well known for example, no one really knows about the Rhodes here in Belize but it's really known outside of Belize so I think what I can say is that you need to start looking at different avenues I think there's a lot of people who always compete for the same scholarships here for example the Taiwan one and I get it it's competitive and there are good people who apply and you do see a lot of Belizeans getting it but you need to realize that there is more out there."

Godoy leaves in August.