President Barack Obama jokes with participants in the Roosevelt Room of the White House before making a statement on student loans in the Rose Garden, May 31, 2013. Participants, from left, are: Nathaniel Tisa, Georgetown University; Robert Fisher, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; Austin Rodriguez, University of Maryland; Brent DeBeaumont, Seattle University School of Law; and Jordan Foster, George Mason University.An iconic photo shows a teenage Bill Clinton shaking hands in 1963 with President John F. Kennedy in the White House Rose Garden.
Robert Fisher had his photo taken in July 2013 shaking hands with President Barack Obama in the White House's Roosevelt Room.
There's another similarity now: Fisher, a senior at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, on Monday was named a Rhodes Scholar. He enters a select group that includes Clinton and 3,356 other Americans who have won Rhodes Scholarships over the decades.
Rhodes Scholarships provide all expenses for two, three or four years of study at the University of Oxford in England. The scholarships were created in 1902 by the will of Cecil Rhodes, the British mining magnate and African colonialist for whom the country of Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, was named.
"It's still sinking in," Fisher said Monday of the honor, for which he gave his parents credit.
"It was always a given in our home: The expectation was that you would do well," he said. "They set up high standards for us."
Fisher, who has a perfect 4.0 grade point average, is in the Brock Program in UTC's Honors College and is majoring in political science with minors in history and Africana studies.
His selection as a Rhodes Scholar puts UTC among a list of prestigious U.S. universities, including Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and Yale, that had students among the 32 Rhodes scholars selected this year. About 50 other recipients were chosen from around the world.
Fisher is the third Rhodes Scholar in the school's history, UTC officials say. The most recent previous recipient was Paul Ludwig, of Signal Mountain, who won in 1986.
Robert Fisher has been selected to become a Rhodes Scholar."This is a great thing," UTC Honors College Dean Linda Frost said. "The Rhodes is the most prestigious national scholarship."
Having great personal energy, ambition and an ability to work with others are some of the criteria to be a Rhodes Scholar. They also should be committed to making a strong difference for good in the world, be conscious of inequities and should show great promise of leadership.
Frost said Fisher's calendar is full of appointments, and that he seems to know everyone in town. Fisher has worked with the Benwood Foundation, the River City Co. and with Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke -- who was among those who recommended that Fisher get the Rhodes Scholarship.
"His ability to create community is powerful," Frost said of Fisher. "He's just charming."
"I've told him, whether [Fisher] wants it or not, he's going to be elected to something someday," Frost said. "He is the kind of person people entrust for him to lead them."
Fisher has been involved in student government since fifth grade, he said, and was elected to serve this year and last year as president of UTC's Student Government Association.
He said people have mentioned the parallels between his experience and Bill Clinton's. But Fisher doesn't anticipate seeking political office right away.
Fisher plans to pursue a master's of philosophy in comparative social policy degree at Oxford, and he sees himself "possibly leading a university some day."
"I think it's really important to have a profession and career before someone enters public office," he said.
Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/tim.omarzu or twitter.com/TimOmarzu or 423-757-6651.