The comparative literature senior at Princeton University, who grew up in Charlotte, Mich., was recently selected as one of 32 nationwide Rhodes Scholars.

The prestigious scholarship provides funding, including tuition and room and board, for a student to pursue graduate studies in any field at the University of Oxford in England, said Jenni Marsh, MSU’s coordinator for national and international scholarships and fellowships.

“I can’t think of a better place in the world to study English and the Middle Ages,” Brett Masters said. “Oxford has a legendary tradition of medievalists, like Tolkien or Lewis, who have made their work vital and relevant by writing their own fiction or social commentary.”

He said he was astonished to be selected as a Rhodes Scholar after meeting the other finalists during a regional reception.

In October, he will head to the University of Oxford, where he will spend two years studying medieval English literature.

“Just as at Princeton, there will be many, many people at Oxford much smarter than I, and with all sorts of different acquaintances with the world, and, as at Princeton, I am thrilled by the opportunity just to be around them, to learn from them,” he said.

Brett Masters said he went to Princeton knowing he wanted to spend his four years as an undergraduate reading or writing about books, but he decided to study comparative literature after a freshman seminar.

“I eventually decided on comparative literature instead of English because of the influence of, ironically, a terrific English professor … who also just happened to know Italian, French, Spanish, Latin and taught a freshman seminar on Dante,” he said. “It was wonderful to watch him tease out meanings from texts, relating folks like St. Augustine, Chaucer, Cervantes, Harold Bloom (and) Leopold Bloom along the way.”

Diane Masters said her son always wanted to learn more and after his sophomore year in high school, he left Charlotte to attend a boarding school in Massachusetts.

“Deerfield, my boarding school, offered academic opportunities that weren’t quite available back home,” he said. “It is also still the most beautiful place I’ve ever been.”

The decision to leave home in search of challenging academic opportunities was Brett’s decision and, after researching possible schools, he was accepted to about seven different schools out East.

“Since he was a little kid, he always said he wanted to go to Harvard or Princeton because he said that was where all the people who write books work,” Diane Masters said.