A record number of Northwestern students and alumni have spent the past few days preparing for one of the hardest interviews of their lives.

In the past two weeks, several students were granted interviews for the prestigious Rhodes and Marshall scholarships, which award recipients funds to earn a master’s degree abroad.

Five Marshall applicants were called for interviews: Weinberg senior Cristina Bejan; Weinberg senior Tracy Carson; Hawnyea Abigail Moy, Weinberg ’02; Kate Elswit, Communication ’02; and Joseph Konopka, Weinberg ’03.

Six Rhodes applicants received interview slots: Bejan; Carson; Moy; Weinberg senior Anisa Czerniejewski; Melissa Harris, Medill ’02; and Rebekah Park, Weinberg ’02.

Nicholas Johnson, Communication ’03, will interview for the Mitchell Scholarship, a program that funds a year of study in Ireland.

The Marshall Scholarship awards funds for recipients to earn a master’s degree at a university in Great Britain, while Rhodes winners pursue a master’s at Oxford University in England.

“They’ve gone through an amazing amount of work on their applications,” said Christopher Hager, an assistant director at the Office of Fellowships. “They really do a lot of very serious reflective thinking about their lives and their goals and academic plans.”

Applicants have spent the past week vigorously preparing for their interviews. The Office of Fellowships has held a series of “mock interviews” for the applicants, Hager said.

Marshall interviews began yesterday and continue today and Saturday, and Rhodes interviews are scheduled for next week. Johnson will interview for the Mitchell Scholarship on Nov. 22.

CRISTINA BEJAN

Bejan spent her junior year studying abroad at Oxford, where she hopes to return to study philosophy if she receives the Rhodes or Marshall scholarship.

During her time at Oxford, Bejan attended conferences in the Czech Republic and Slovakia about the development of democracy and capitalism in Eastern Europe. Bejan spent the summer after her sophomore year in Bucharest researching Romanian human rights.

At NU, she plays club women’s ice hockey and is involved in theater productions.

TRACY CARSON

Carson is the current For Members Only coordinator at NU. She will pursue a master of letters degree in historical studies if she receives either the Marshall or Rhodes scholarship.

During the last three years, she has volunteered on Chicago’s South Side coaching the Chicago Urban Debate League. She eventually hopes to become the director of the league, which she participated in during high school.

At NU, Carson was a member of the Debate Society when the team won national championships in 2002 and 2003. She has organized community service projects in Chicago and is the vice president of her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta.

HAWNYEA ABIGAIL MOY

Moy works as a research assistant at the World Resources Institute in Washington. She said she hopes to study international relations at Oxford if she receives either the Marshall or Rhodes scholarship.

During her college career, Moy interned at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Moy, also a former editor in chief of Helicon, NU’s literary magazine, said she enjoys combining her interest in international affairs with local community service. In her spare time in Washington, she teaches English to immigrants and distributes medical and educational materials to sex workers.

ANISA CZERNIEJEWSKI

Czerniejewski hopes to be a United Nations policy advisor. If awarded the Rhodes Scholarship, she will pursue a master’s of philosophy in development studies, focusing on socioeconomic development in Africa.

Czerniejewski, who speaks four languages fluently, took a year off after high school to volunteer with public health programs in Cyprus and South America. She has interned at the state departments in both Santiago, Chile, and Milan, Italy.

MELISSA HARRIS

Harris is a local government reporter at the Orlando Sentinel. If she receives the Rhodes Scholarship, she will study sociology, her minor.

As an intern at The Indianapolis Star, Harris covered the 2000 presidential election, earning recognition as one of the Scripps-Howard Foundation’s Top 10 College Journalists of the Year.

While at NU, Harris was a Northwestern Community Development Corps executive board member, president of the Mortar Board Senior Honor Society and secretary of Advocates for Youth, a group that promotes sex education.

NICHOLAS JOHNSON

Johnson now is researching ensemble theater in Berlin on the German Academic Exchange Service fellowship. If he receives the Mitchell Scholarship, he hopes to attend Trinity College in Dublin.

At Trinity he would continue his research on Samuel Beckett and expand his NU thesis on Beckett to a dissertation for a master of letters degree.

Johnson aspires to be a playwright and eventually start an ensemble theater. At NU he cofounded a theater ensemble, directed productions and performed in the mime troupe.

Elswit, Konopka and Park could not be reached for comment.