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Among the many qualities that recipients of the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship must exhibit is a commitment to “fight the world’s fight” — to advance causes for the betterment of all. The ambitions of UF’s newest Rhodes Scholar, Aimee Clesi, fit the bill.

“When we talk about Aimee and her real intentional desire to overturn wrongful convictions in the American South, that is someone who is looking to fight the world’s fight, certainly,” said Kelly Medley, the University of Florida’s external scholarship & fellowship coordinator, who oversees UF students’ applications for the scholarship.

A history and philosophy double major in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Clesi is the University of Florida’s first woman and 13th student overall to win the world’s oldest graduate scholarship. The award will send her to the University of Oxford to earn a doctorate in law, after which she plans to pursue a legal career fighting for those incorrectly sentenced to the death penalty.

Growing up not far from UF in Branford, Florida, Clesi dual-enrolled in college classes while in high school after encouragement from her mother. Her passion for learning has only grown since then.

Clesi and Medley spoke with UF’s Nicci Brown on the From Florida podcast to reflect on her journey so far and what she hopes to achieve. Below are a few highlights from the conversation.

Clesi and her twin sister, Erika, were both motivated to attend UF after taking part in the Humanities and the Sunshine State program, hosted by UF’s Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere. There, Aimee was inspired by Sophia Acord, then the center’s associate director, and Steven Noll, a master lecturer of history.

Clesi: The program was all about exploring Florida history, seeing the state in its rawest form, being on the water and canoes from Crystal Springs to the Ichetucknee. We explored the water in every way you can think of and its connection to the humanities. That made me know that the humanities and a major in philosophy and history would be right for me.

Finding out Clesi won the Rhodes Scholarship was an emotional whirlwind for everyone.

Medley: [Clesi] FaceTimed me from where she was studying abroad in the U.K., and I knew she was crying and yelling, and I couldn’t understand at all what she was actually saying. And thankfully, Erika, her twin sister, happened to be in the room … and was the translator. Just all of a sudden from the background, I hear, “She won.” And then I started crying and yelling as well. … And then she said, “I need to call my mom.”

Clesi: My mom at the time was driving, and she was with her friend, Suzanne … They’re just both crying and hysterical. … She’s like, “Aimee, I got to get off the phone. I need to go tell everyone. Let me get off the phone, so I can go start telling everyone in Branford.”

During an internship at the Jacksonville state attorney’s office, Clesi discovered her passion.

Clesi: I remember going to the division chief and saying, “Hey, can I help you with a case?” … And she points to this box, and she goes, “Go through this box and make sure everything’s there.” … And I thought, “Okay, I got my first assignment.”… While I was going through this case, I was looking at all the evidence. I was looking up Florida rules of criminal procedure, how the case was tried, and all kinds of things. … I was convinced that maybe the state attorney’s office had gotten this wrong. There were pieces of evidence that were not presented at trial that I thought merited particular attention that could have changed the outcome of this man, this boy’s future at the time, and the jury never heard any of it.

Clesi’s work prompted the division chief to look further into the case. After a series of ups and downs, the man today awaits a new evidentiary hearing. Though the outcome hasn’t been as clear-cut as Clesi hoped, the experience lit a spark. At Oxford, she plans to explore concepts of innocence in the U.S. justice system before pursuing a law degree.

Clesi: [My internships] gave me an overview of the justice system that I had never seen or had before. It’s one thing to say you want to be a lawyer, but then to be able to say exactly what you want to do, that has to come from research and knowing where you want to be.

The Rhodes Scholarship won’t be Clesi’s first experience in the United Kingdom. She and her sister Erika spent a semester at Royal Holloway, University of London, through Beyond120, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ signature experiential learning program.

Clesi: We met an extraordinary range of people in different fields, different disciplines, different life experiences. … Maybe if you’re scared to travel abroad for the first time, like I was, it can help break that fear, and see a whole new place, and how other people live in the world.

Her advice to other students? “Take the chance that is presented to you.”

Clesi: I commute to the University of Florida to attend classes, to be part of student groups. And what I try hardest to do while I’m here is to maximize my time, to meet with professors, to go to different events, to see faculty-led research efforts, to find where it is that I want to be, and what’s possible. I would recommend other students do the exact same thing.

Listen to the full podcast here.

This story appears in the spring 2022 issue of Ytori Magazine. Read more from the issue.