04/19/23

By FHSU University Communications

HAYS, Kan. - Campus Compact, a Boston-based non-profit organization working to advance the public purposes of higher education, has named 154 student civic leaders from 38 states, Washington, D.C., and Mexico, to the 2023 cohort of Newman Civic Scholars. The list for this coming school year includes Fort Hays State University sophomore Ella Burrows.

The Newman Civic Fellowship recognizes students who stand out for their commitment to creating positive change in communities locally and around the world. Fellows are nominated by Campus Compact member presidents and chancellors, who are invited to select one outstanding student from their campus each year.

“It means a lot to see the work that I’ve done has been recognized,” Burrows said. “Through the Newman Fellowship, I’ll be able to learn more and bring that back to Fort Hays to continue to get more students civically engaged.”

Burrows, a political science major with a pre-law emphasis, will begin her term as a fellow in the fall of 2023. She will attend a conference in Boston next October, where leadership, professional development, and civic engagement opportunities will be available.

In the fall, she will also begin her term as Student Government Association president, duties of which will intersect nicely with her Newman Fellow term.

Burrows is passionate about civic engagement and is working with the Student Affairs Committee of the Faculty Senate to examine student voter registration and other issues surrounding voting on the FHSU campus.  

She credits much of her interest in civic engagement and community development to her upbringing in Satanta, a community of just 1,092 people.

“Our town is so small, it is fighting to survive out in western Kansas,” she said. “My whole path is to get people engaged, and eventually, I’d love to get into politics and do policy research and create policies that benefit all of western Kansas.”

In her personal statement, Burrows points out that her community “raised me to advocate fiercely for the least, the last, and the lost.”

Burrows has served as a freshman senator in SGA and legislative affairs director. In addition, she has been a student coordinator for the American Democracy Project, peer mentor to the Honors College, and peer academic leader to the Law, Politics and Justice Living and Learning Community. A link to her full bio is available at: https://compact.org/current-programs/newman-civic-fellowship/newman-civic-fellows/ella-0