Kate Westrick
Fall 2018 John Jay Fellow
Hometown: Greenwood, IN
College: Bryan College
Degree: B.A. Government
Kate Westrick was born and raised just outside of Indianapolis, Indiana. She attended Bryan College in southeastern Tennessee and graduated summa cum laude in May of 2018. Throughout her college career, she has dedicated herself to creating space for nonpartisan discussion on both policy issues and Christian thought. She was the founder and chair of her school’s American Enterprise Institute Executive Council program and wrote for her college’s school newspaper, the Bryan Triangle, covering politics and current events. During her senior year, she was a member of the Worldview Initiative, an organization that strives to create platforms to discuss the issues the church faces when trying to engage culture. In addition to this, this organization also works to help high school students develop a sound and refined worldview through seminars and small groups. Kate also worked in the Department of Politics and Government at Bryan College as an administrative assistant. She was named “Outstanding Underclassman in Politics in Government” in the spring of 2016 and “Outstanding Senior in Politics in Government” in the spring of 2018.
Kate spent the summers of 2016 and 2017 as a Research Assistant to the President at the Sagamore Institute, a nonpartisan think tank based in Indianapolis. This past summer she worked at her home church in Indiana, Community Church of Greenwood. There she worked to help curate the overall liturgy of the service as well as assisting the communications team with graphic design and content creation. Following the academic residency semester at John Jay, Kate will continue her education as she works to attain her Master’s in Business Administration.
Kate is passionate about learning how the church can engage culture in a just and compassionate way while still maintaining the integrity of the Gospel. She believes that those who follow Christ ought to occupy all spheres of society to advance both human flourishing and the good news of Christ. She is excited to be stretched both intellectually and spiritually through the John Jay Institute Fellows Program and cannot wait to experience the culture of Philadelphia.