Kyra Cooper
Spring 2019 John Jay Fellow
Hometown: Windsor Heights, Iowa
College: Truman State University
Degree: B.S. Political Science
Kyra Cooper is originally from Windsor Heights, Iowa. She completed her undergraduate education at Truman State University in northeast Missouri with a major in Political Science and minors in International Studies and Public Administration.
At Truman, Kyra was actively involved in Student Government for four years. After serving in various chairships within the organization, Kyra was elected by the student body to be the President of the Student Government during her senior year. Kyra also served as the President of Pi Sigma Alpha (the Political Science honors organization) and as the Executive Vice President of her sorority, Sigma Kappa. Upon graduating, Kyra received the designation of Valedictorian with summa cum laude honors. Truman recognized Kyra as one of two “Outstanding Senior Leaders” and the Political Science Department recognized Kyra as the “Outstanding Undergraduate Student in Political Science.” She was also involved in the honors organizations Order of Omega and Phi Kappa Phi. Kyra recently returned to Truman to host the inaugural TEDxTrumanStateUniversity conference.
Kyra has had a long-term interest in international topics. She has studied abroad in Morocco, Czechia, and Northern Ireland. During her studies, Kyra became interested in refugee issues. She spent a summer as a refugee advocacy intern for World Relief, a Christian refugee resettlement agency. She has also worked in direct services for refugee agencies in Des Moines. In addition, Kyra has had several experiences in state government through working in the Iowa Senate, Iowa Secretary of State’s office, and the Missouri State Public Defender’s office.
While at the John Jay Institute, Kyra looks forward to strengthening her faith in combination with studying academic topics. Following her time at the John Jay Institute, Kyra plans on attending law school with the goal of gaining skills to contribute to legal and policy-based discussions.