Rhodes scholar makes community proud

When Iakoiehwáhtha Meloche Patton first told her parents she was planning to complete her undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto, they felt a twinge of sadness that their baby would be so far from home.

Now, as Patton completes her studies as a Rhodes scholar with two master’s degrees from Oxford University in England, they know one thing for certain - their daughter’s hunger for knowledge is going to take her all over the world.

“I couldn’t imagine doing anything else,” said Patton, who now holds a master’s degree in the history of art and a master’s degree in visual, material, and museum anthropology from Oxford University.

The Rhodes Scholarship is a highly prestigious postgraduate scholarship which covers tuition, living expenses, and travel for individuals to study at Oxford University, widely regarded as one of the best academic institutions in the world.

Rhodes scholars are supported through their academic journey by a support team of staff and alumni and are encouraged to push the boundaries of what’s possible in their respective fields, striving for the highest levels of academic achievement.

The scholarship was first awarded in 1902, and each year thousands of students apply for just over 100 places each year.

Patton, who studied anthropology, art history, and Renaissance studies at the University of Toronto, first considered applying for the scholarship after being contacted by her college, who said her academic and extracurricular success working in activist spaces would make her a strong candidate.

She remembers taking months to painstakingly compile her application, which included six reference letters, and how she made family members and friends do mock interviews with her whenever possible.

“I really, really wanted it, because if I didn’t get it, there was no way I was going to be able to afford to do a master’s program,” Patton said. “It makes you dig really deep inside yourself and split open your chest, and really ask, ‘Who am I as a person, why do I want to go to Oxford?’”

After waiting what felt like a lifetime for news on her application, a call came at the most inopportune moment: just as she entered the elevator to her building, which caused the line to drop before she heard a ‘yes’ or ‘no.’

“I was running up my apartment hallway to get my apartment, and I ended up calling them back, and they told me, ‘You got the Rhodes scholarship,’” Patton said. “I was crying and saying ‘Thank you so much, I know this is just routine work for you, but you literally just changed my life.’”

Patton’s father, James Patton, remembers where he and his wife, Clair Meloche, were when they heard the news too - at the Mohawk Trail Longhouse.

“I saw my wife answer her phone and just burst into tears, and she came back in and said ‘My God, she got it, she’s a Rhodes scholar,’” he said.

Her parents made the journey to Oxford to watch their daughter graduate, an experience he said he’ll remember for a lifetime.

“It was surreal. It was a hell of a ceremony. I couldn’t be any prouder,” he said. “It’s something that we never imagined.”

Being part of the Rhodes community at Oxford opened doors that Iakoiehwáhtha said she didn’t even know existed, including in the anthropology classroom, where she reckoned with what it means to be an Indigenous scholar inside the walls of a historic, colonial institution.

“It wasn’t just an academic journey, it was an intellectually emotional one where you’re walking into these spaces where you realize that’s where colonialism happens, that’s where all these ideas were birthed and cemented,” she said. “I realized there’s so many other ways that I can look at these topics rather than just any one specific lens that Oxford is teaching.”

For the next generation of scholars in Kahnawake, Iakoiehwáhtha has one piece of advice: go for it. James has some too: let them.

“You have to let them do what they need to do, no matter how hard it is or how far away it seems, they have to do it,” he said. “She’s not finished yet.”

Iakoiehwáhtha is currently eyeing PhD opportunities - though it’s too early for her to say which exciting new country her studies will take her to next.

“I want Indigenous students, especially from Kahnawake, to take their narratives in their own hands, and take up that space,” she said.

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