By the time Zachary Battles found out he was chosen as a 2001 Rhodes Scholar, he was almost too worn out from the long day and the wait to take it all in.

"It never really quite sunk in that day because we were so exhausted," Battles (senior-math and computer science) said. "It was wonderful to be named a Rhodes Scholar, but it was also good to get out of that hot, stuffy (waiting) room."

Surviving a gauntlet of interviews, Battles is the second Penn State student to receive the prestigious scholarship from Oxford University. Tess Thompson was the first Rhodes Scholar in 1997. Both graduated from State College Area High School.

Battles plans to graduate from Penn State this spring with a bachelor's degree in math, and a bachelor's and master's degree in computer science. But even more incredible than his numerous awards and degrees is the fact that Battles has been blind just about all his life.

"Since Zachary appeared in the office, I've been working with him on the Rhodes Scholarship and other scholarships," said Mary Gage, director of undergraduate fellowships and Penn State's chair of the campus Rhodes Scholarship selection committee.

Gage was extremely impressed with the motivation and accomplishment of Battles. "There are only 32 (Rhodes Scholars) in the whole country. Zachary is by example showing what blind students can do. He's a terrific inspiration."

Battles was adopted at the age of three from South Korea into a family that now lives in State College. He has 17 siblings, 14 of whom are adopted.

"He is just a delightful young man," said Marguerite Ciolkosz, who taught two years of chemistry to Battles at State College Area High School. "He's very independent. He seems to always know what he's doing and when."

Recognizing Battles' talents, Ciolkosz insisted Battles participate in laboratory work, against the advice experts nationwide gave her. "He worked very diligently. He did as much as I asked him to."

Taking a Braille version of the lab procedure, "He would plan how he would do the procedure and what kind of modifications were needed," Ciolkosz said. For instance, Battles would adjust a Bunsen burner by sound or read a pH meter by touch.

When he discovered that a copy of the periodic table was not easily available in Braille, Battles worked and is continuing to work on an extensive periodic table, publishing it on the Internet for the benefit of all blind students.

In college, Battles has managed to keep himself busy with his academic studies and many other activities. He has traveled to both Costa Rica and the Ukraine.

"In the Ukraine, I was an English teacher," Battles said. He served as a one of 16 Mobility International USA delegates to Costa Rica, helping exchange ideas with the disabled there.

Battles is also a mentor for Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technolgy, a program that helps disabled students excel in math, science and engineering. "I myself am a student who went through one or two of those fields," he said.

Math and computer science might not seem like the typical major for a blind student, but Battles was determined from the start to learn all he could about the subjects.

"Part of it is the fact it's considered difficult for blind students," he said. "Part of it was to prove that blind students are just as capable in those fields."

Battles plans to leave for Oxford University in September with the rest of the Rhodes Scholars. He hopes to stay there at least three years, studying numerical analysis.

"Oxford is the right place for him," Gage said. "This is just a very good way for him to get there."

Battles' unwavering motivation continues to impress those around him.

"Thanks to technology and thanks to his own determination . . . he's shown the way," Gage said. "He's the kind of person to encourage other people."

But ask Battles about his incredible perseverance through difficulties and other people's skepticism, and he credits a higher power.

"Most of it really is God has given me a gift of motivation and I've been able to use that to not seek the approval of men but the approval of God," he said. "Because we are endowed with talent, it's our responsibility to use it to the fullest."