The article about Jordan Anderson's selection as a Rhodes Scholar was very nice, as he is a wonderful young man.

He attended the Roanoke Valley Governor's School for three years, where he took advanced science and math courses in the morning and then the remainder of his subjects at Hidden Valley in the afternoon.

It is always great to see articles about athletes who excel in the classroom as well as in their respective sports. I really liked the article last summer about Kate Norbo when she was named Timesland's female athlete of the year. I had Kate in AP chemistry and in the electives, environmental research and directed study, where she did a great research project and went to the regional science fair.

She was also a student aid for me at Patrick Henry when she didn't have a class. She is a super young woman.

I hope the Times continues to take the time to feature scholar-athletes because it takes real dedication to keep up grades at the same time they are spending long hours at practices as well as sometimes traveling long distances to games or matches.

The main reason that I am writing, though, is to let you know that Emmy Spencer, a 2002 graduate of the Naval Academy who also went to the Governor's School and Cave Spring High School, was named a Rhodes Scholar.

She was, in fact, the first female graduate of the Naval Academy to be awarded this scholarship.

Gwen Sibert

Editor's note: Emmy Spencer was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in December 2001. She played tennis at Cave Spring and was on Navy's sailing team.