Recent Southwest Ohio Rhodes Scholars
2017: Pasquale Toscano, Fairmont High School, Washington and Lee University
2015: Rebecca Esselstein, Alter High School, Air Force Academy
2014: Courtney Wittekind, Mason High School, Carnegie Mellon University
2002: Anne Kafoure, Westerville North High School, Miami University
2000: Cindi Dennis, Beavercreek High School, Carnegie Mellon University
A Fairmont High School graduate has been named one of 32 Rhodes Scholar recipients, allowing him to pursue post-graduate studies at Oxford University in England.
Pasquale “Paqui” Toscano, a senior at Washington and Lee University in Virginia, was announced as one of the 32 recipients Sunday. Toscano, an English and Classics double major, plans to pursue a career as a scholar of literature, with an interest in literary reception, according to the Rhodes Trust.
“I’m very humbled, honored and really amazed,” he said. “Each and every one of the finalists around the country—and certainly in the District 10 region—were absolutely amazing and inspiring. I’m very excited to get to study at Oxford and pursue my academic dreams across the pond.”
Toscano, 22, suffered a spinal cord injury in an accident several years ago, when a motorist struck the then-freshman as he rode his bike. The incident left him partially paralyzed from the waist down (he currently walks with the assistance of a cane). Forced into a semester-long sabbatical from school, he developed an interest in studying disability in literature while working on rebuilding his capacity to walk.
Before the accident, Toscano said, he was unaware of the needs and challenges that people with disabilities face. Now, he plans on using his opportunity at Oxford to study literature and how the depiction of disability affects the perception of the physically and mentally disabled.
“I’m very concerned and fascinated by the depiction of disability in literary text,” he said. “That depiction can oftentimes result in people feeling that the physically and mentally disabled are aberrations, that they’re not the norm, when in fact, disability is the norm,” Toscano said.
His father, Vinny Toscano, said he was proud of the way his son had pursued his interests.
“We’re all very proud of him, and very grateful for the support he’s had through the years from the schools and the community,” Vinny Toscano said.
At Washington and Lee, Toscano received numerous awards and scholarships, including the school’s Algernon Sydney Sullivan Medallion, which honors the senior man or woman who excels “in high ideals in living, in fine spiritual qualities, and in generous and unselfish service to others.” Once he finishes his time at Oxford, he plans to pursue a career as a professor and disability-rights advocate.
Toscano said the accident “redirected” his career path, but that it was the support from the faculty at Washington and Lee that helped further his ambitions for a career as a professor.
“Professors have a very unique opportunity to impact people in their most formative years,” he said. “Seeing that they were able to do that in my life inspired me to want to pay that forward.”
The Rhodes Scholarships, valued between $50,000 and $200,000, fully fund two to four years of study at the prestigious university in Oxford, England. Toscano is the 16th recipient of a Rhodes scholarship at Washington and Lee and the 86th recipient from Ohio since the scholarship trust was founded in 1902.
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