Even if he were not Centre's latest Rhodes Scholar, Michael Lanham '00 of Gravel Switch, Ky., would stand out. It's hard to miss someone who is six-foot-nine. He's also just 18 years old. But Lanham, who skipped first, second, and ninth grades, claims neither height nor age is an issue for him. He would rather talk about music or math his twin passions or London, where he spent the fall term with Centre's study-abroad program.

It probably helped that in his family, racing through school is the norm. Both his mother and grandfather skipped grades, as have his two younger brothers. But his parent's love of music his mother teaches music and his father, a farmer, studied musical theater in college also eased the way.

"Music opens doors to a social group that instantly accepts you simply for being musical, even in middle school and high school," he says.

Lanham grew up singing with his family in the choir at St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Harrodsburg and won first place in his division of a state singing competition last year. He also plays piano and French horn. When he came to Centre, he thought he might start a marching band, but instead wound up founding a chapter of Delta Omicron, the international music fraternity. Now he's busy as the musical director for an upcoming production of A Little Night Music.

"I love musical theater," he says. "I love the stories the music tells. Each show presents different techniques of orchestration, instrumentation, composition, and performance."

One of the highlights of his term in London, in fact, was the chance to see so many musicals especially The Lion King, which he saw twice. "We could just walk to the theater on the night of the performance," he says, "and we did."

He had to leave London early to participate in the state and regional Rhodes interviews held in early December, but he didn't mind. The Rhodes Scholarship is the most prestigious post-graduate fellowship of all, good for two or three all expense-paid years at Oxford University.

He also wasn't too worried. "I had been told the interview process would be fun, and it was," he says. As for prospective candidates, he says the keys to success are simple: don't wait until the last minute and relax.

"As long as you have a good understanding of your own field, you'll do fine," he says. "The most important thing is to look at the application and make yourself fit years ahead of time instead of trying to make yourself look like you fit a month before it's due. Then relax, because the interviewers really just want to get to know you."

Lanham's field will be mathematical biology, which combines his love of numbers with the four years of pre-med courses he took to keep his options open. He plans to earn a doctorate in mathematics at Oxford, doing research that uses mathematical models to analyze how various policies for disease control affect the spread of HIV, the virus behind the AIDS epidemic.

"There's a general perception that to make a disease die out, you need to vaccinate everybody, but that's not the case," he explains. "After you vaccinate a certain proportion of a population, the disease can't reproduce itself fast enough to remain at endemic levels.

His interest in describing the dynamics of diseases took shape last summer at a Cornell University research program. "Pure math is beautiful in itself," he says. "But to see it describe vaccines, viruses, and other biological functions things that seem so completely different and to see that the math actually works when you use real-life data is really exciting to me."

As for the future, Lanham remains undecided. A double major in math and music, he'd like to earn an advanced degree in music after Oxford. He will certainly continue to speak about the educational needs of gifted children as he has already done at state and national conferences. And he might like to teach. "Applied mathematics and musical performance are so exciting to me, and I'd like to help expose other students to them," he says.

One way or another, he adds, "I can see myself in school for a long, long time."
—D.F.J.

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