Georgetown students brought home both the Mitchell Scholarship and the Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship this year, but for the second year running, no students were named Rhodes Scholars.

The Mitchell Scholarship, a one-year fellowship to pursue post-graduate studies at an Irish university, was awarded to Derick Stace-Naughton (COL ’11), an English and physics double major. By producing its 10th Mitchell Scholar since the program launched in 2001, Georgetown boasts the most Mitchell scholar winners among U.S. universities.

Sarah Gardiner (SFS ’11), a staff writer for THE HOYA, was named a Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellow last week while she was studying abroad in Cote d’ Ivoire. The fellowship, which is funded by the U.S. Department of State and administered by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, requires its participants to serve as foreign service officers after graduating and passing the Foreign Service Officer Test.

The winners of the Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships, two of the most prestigious
fellowships, were also announced recently. This year, however, Georgetown did not produce a winner for either award, though 23 students have been named Rhodes Scholars since 1984. Over the years, Georgetown students have also won 18 Marshall Scholarships.

“We see far fewer potential candidates than we should,” said English professor John Glavin, university fellowship secretary. “I think people just don’t think enough about it. Georgetown should have more people in these races.”

In 2010, a total of 19 Georgetown students applied for at least one of the four post-graduate fellowships that Glavin oversees – the Rhodes, Churchill, Marshall and Mitchell – fewer than in years past, according to Maryam Mohamed, associate director of the Office of University Fellowships.

“Perhaps it has something to do with the current financial crisis. Students don’t want to take a gamble on something that’s not a sure thing. And in terms of sheer statistics, [applying] is a pretty hard argument to make,” Mohamed said. “But I think there’s a lot that can be learned from the process of applying, in particular the writing and the practice interviews.”

The application process for students interested in pursuing the Rhodes, Marshall, Mitchell or Churchill Scholarship in 2011 begins at the end of this month.

The Mitchell scholarship, which is sponsored by the U.S.-Ireland Alliance and awarded to just 12 American students per year, will send Stace-Naughton to the University of Ulster, where he plans to pursue a master’s degree in health communication.

Inspired by the Science in the Public Interest class he took as a sophomore, Stace-Naughton decided to investigate the relationship between scientific research and public policy. Ultimately, this led him to work with Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) and propose the Bleeding Disorders Screening, Awareness and Further Education Act of 2010. The bill calls for an educational campaign about bleeding disorders for health professionals and programs to ensure that patients are referred to the correct doctors, among other proposals.

For Stace-Naughton, government-sponsored medical research has personal implications. He suffers from a genetic condition that prevents his blood from clotting properly. His mother and sister, for reasons science has not been able to identify, have much more severe cases of the same condition to the point where they are physically debilitated.

“I have chosen to commit my time, my knowledge and my energy to support those with bleeding disorders who have not enjoyed my good fortune,” he wrote in the personal statement he submitted with his Mitchell Scholarship application.

As a Mitchell Scholar, Stace-Naughton will have the opportunity to travel the country and meet with Irish government officials. He is also looking to learn more about the Irish health care system.

Speaking from across the Atlantic Ocean, Gardiner, like Stace-Naughton, was first inspired by a class she took early in her Georgetown career.

“I took a culture and diplomacy class once I got here,” Gardiner said in a university press release. “The more I studied in the Institute of Diplomacy, the more I considered it as a potential career path.”

Since 2009, Gardiner has interned at Amnesty International, the American Society of International Law and Sister Cities International. She also spent studied abroad during her junior year in western and central Africa.

With the new fellowship, Gardiner will receive funds toward her senior year tuition and expenses and her first year of graduate school.

The 2010 Churchill scholars have yet to be announced.