Kiyadh Burt attributes his interest in community involvement to his mother, who instilled in him a drive and desire to do better for himself and his family. He read "A Lesson Before Dying" by Ernest Gaines in high school, and one of the biggest lessons he took from the book was the impact someone can have on his or her community.
Burt, 21, a junior political-science major at Jackson State University, has been accepted into the Public Policy and International Affairs Fellowship Program's Junior Summer Institute at Princeton University. The seven-week program, which begins June 12, prepares students for graduate study and careers in public policy. Participants receive instruction in skills essential to domestic and international policy analysis including public speaking, critical thinking, statistics, policy writing and quantitative reasoning. Burt is the third student from Jackson State University to get into the prestigious program in recent years, following Keba Ambrose in 2011 and Donovan Mitchell in 2012.
Kosciusko, Miss., native Burt has been in Jackson for three years. He says that the school's award of a full academic scholarship was not the most important reason he chose JSU. Burt wanted to challenge the negative connotations he often heard associated with the university.
"My high school was a predominately white high school," he says. "Your entire high school career, the only two colleges you hear about are Mississippi State and Ole Miss. And then when you mention JSU, there's always this stigma." He also wanted a chance to grow, personally and academically, among his own culture. "I came from a place where I was the only black guy in my AP classes, and so I was like, I want to go somewhere where I can fellowship with other black intellectuals," he says.
Burt's postgraduate plans include obtaining a master's degree and license in urban planning and a PhD in political science. He wants to improve African American and minority communities. He says that it's his way to fight institutionalized racism. "I want to invoke life back into our communities. I want to be able to put life into public policy." He also looks to expand his reach beyond his work as an urban planner, hoping to seek public office one day.
"Whatever I do, it needs to be in respect to my community, my family, my friends," he says. "I need to make this place better than it was when I came." In addition to being a student ambassador and peer tutor, Burt is also president of the Political Science Club and a member of various other clubs and organizations, including the National Conference of Black Political Scientists, and honor societies Alpha Lambda Delta and Pi Sigma Alpha.
Burt acknowledges the promotion opportunity that his acceptance to PPIA's summer program presents to JSU. "If this can bring more exposure to Jackson State, then by all means," he says.
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