Amelia Bamsey
Fall 2026 John Jay Fellow
Hometown: Minneapolis, MN
College: Catholic University of America
Major: Economics
Amelia is coming to the John Jay Institute from Washington, D.C., having graduated magna cum laude in Economics from the Catholic University of America this spring. During her time at CUA, she was educated by both development and Austrian economists whose research and instruction taught her many ways that applied economics can ameliorate the lives of human beings. The math and research skills she honed in studies for her major were complemented by classes in finance and a minor in English literature, as well as a healthy dose of liberal arts theory as proffered by the Cornerstone Honors Humanities program, of which she was an inaugural member. She continues to explore where her loves for markets and the humanities can meet, and is passionate about labor economics and practical visions of distributism à la G.K. Chesterton and Dorothy Day.
During her undergrad, she worked various jobs that shaped her intellectual interests: as a writing tutor, as a member relations intern for a mutual aid society, and as a research intern at the American Enterprise Institute’s Center for Opportunity and Social Mobility. She has presented the research she conducted in these roles on AI and the future of work at her own university and George Mason University. She has also participated in several Socratic-style conferences and fellowships on these topics, including through Creighton University and the University of Chicago. She was recently privileged to travel to Rome with the Ropke-Wojtyla Fellowship, tacking a third “study abroad” trip to previous experiences in Ireland and Peru.
Though her classes and academic side quests were numerous and time-consuming, living her Catholic faith—the central reason she is convinced that honoring human dignity is the proper end of economics—was Amelia’s main priority through college. She led service groups at food and clothing pantries, helped run four retreats, and held Bible studies on campus for young women. For leisure, she hikes, crafts, reads, and writes a blog about her struggles balancing an appreciation for pragmatism with an artist's heart. She is excited to live in a community of other Christians and gain a deeper understanding of the virtue of hospitality during this fellowship. She hopes this unique opportunity will help her prayerfully discern where the Lord is asking her to use her gifts to serve others in this new phase of life.