James O’Connell: Plant High graduate selected as Rhodes Scholar

The Associated Press
The Tampa Bay Tribune

MIAMI – James O’Connell, a Tampa native and Wake Forest University honors graduate, has big plans after studying at Oxford University as a newly-minted Rhodes Scholar.

He wants to join the U.S. Navy and become part of the elite SEALS unit.

“The dream for after Oxford is to join the SEAL teams. But that’s much easier said than done. I’m ready to work for it, though,” O’Connell said in an interview Sunday.

O’Connell, a 2009 graduate of Plant High School, has been chosen as one of 32 scholars by the Rhodes Trust, as announced early Sunday. He and the others will begin their year studying at Oxford in the fall.

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