Meet the Fall 2026 class of John Jay Fellows!
Please join us in welcoming the Spring 2026 John Jay Fellows! To learn more about the Fellows, click their names below.
Luca adamo
Fall 2026 John Jay Fellow
Hometown: Toronto, Canada
College: Duke University
Major: Political Science; Philosophy
Luca Adamo was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, and graduated from Duke University in 2026 cum laude, double majoring in political science and philosophy.
From freshman year onward, Luca was student co-president of Duke’s Transformative Ideas program, an initiative dedicated to open, cross-disciplinary dialogue that reaches nearly a third of all Duke sophomores. In this role, he worked closely with faculty to build TI’s student-facing programming, with responsibilities including leading the Transformative Ideas student dorm community, helping to run a 200-person tech-free retreat in the fall, designing and teaching a for-credit course in the spring, and hosting weekly movie nights. He also helped to put on many public events for Transformative Ideas, with speakers including Arthur Brooks, Iain McGilchrist, and Simon Conway Morris.
Luca is currently in the process of completing a project comparing the political thought of Jacques Maritain (his favorite philosopher) and John Rawls, seeking to explore the need for gospel values in sustaining a pluralistic political order. He served as a congressional intern in Washington, D.C., in the United States House of Representatives for Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger (R-TN) and has walked the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in northern Spain. In his spare time, he enjoys writing essays and fiction, reading 19th-century Russian literature, and discussing true and beautiful things in the company of friends. After completing the John Jay Fellowship, he hopes to go to graduate school to become a professor in what he loves to study, guided in his service to others by a spirit of good Christian leadership.
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, DC, 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.
Ella Ford
Fall 2026 John Jay Fellow
Hometown: Gadsden, AL
College: Samford University
Major: Political Science and History
Born and raised in Alabama, Ella Ford is a December 2025 graduate of Samford University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History. Before becoming a John Jay Fellow, she served as a Court Attendant for the Presiding Judge of the Tenth Judicial Circuit of Alabama, gaining first hand experience in court administration, project management, and the practical dynamics of the legal system. Outside of school and work, Ella enjoys singing in the church choir and reading classic British detective stories.
During her time at Samford, Ella served as President of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute chapter, directed Grace Dance Ministries, and was an active member of both the Stockham Scholars Program and the Howard Scholars Program. She also competed on Samford’s debate team for two years, earning national recognition for her performance. Her academic and extracurricular work included attending conferences with the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute on Religion and Democracy. Ella is excited to supplement her liberal arts education at Samford with the rigorous reading and writing regimen of the John Jay Fellowship.
After her time at John Jay, Ella is planning on pursuing policy analysis and research work in Washington, D.C., with a focus on foreign policy or judicial policy. Her past research projects have examined the intersection of religion and drug trafficking in terror organizations, as well as the role evangelical missionaries have historically played in the relationship between the United States and Colombia. Ella is excited for the growth opportunities provided by the John Jay Fellowship in faith and public service. She hopes to continue to explore the intersection of religion, public life, and foreign relations following her time at John Jay.
Parker Goodrich
Fall 2026 John Jay Fellow
Hometown: Herndon, VA
College: Virginia Polytechnic Institute
Major: National Security and Foreign Affairs
Parker Goodrich was born and raised in Herndon, Virginia. After graduating from high school, he decided to lean into his Virginian heritage by attending Virginia Tech, where he studied National Security and Foreign Affairs with a minor in Chinese Studies. While at Virginia Tech, Parker became deeply involved in several Christian ministries, including Beta Upsilon Chi, which helped strengthen his worldview and deepen his reliance on Christ. He also founded Hokie Stone Press, a Christian-conservative publication on campus through ISI’s Collegiate Network.
Professionally, Parker has interned with both the U.S. Department of State and The Heritage Foundation. At the State Department, he assisted with the European bidding cycle for Chiefs of Mission and Deputy Chiefs of Mission, while also supporting operations for the NATO Summit and the Chiefs of Mission Conference. At the Heritage Foundation, Parker worked in the Allison Center for National Security, where he published multiple op-eds and issue briefs on national security topics, primarily focused on the Indo-Pacific region.
Parker’s academic interests include International Relations, Reformed Theology, and Political Theology. During his time at John Jay this fall, he looks forward to reading the Great Books, deepening his faith, and further developing his worldview. He is excited to engage in thoughtful conversation and live in community with others who share similar convictions while also learning from their perspectives. After the fall semester, Parker hopes to work in Washington, D.C., within the conservative movement, serving the country he loves. Ultimately, however, his greatest aspirations are to marry, raise a family in Virginia, and faithfully invest in the next generation.
zion granville
Fall 2026 John Jay Fellow
Hometown: Sugar Land, TX
College: Illinois State University
Major: Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management
Zion Granville is from Sugar Land, Texas, in the Houston area, where he was raised in a family shaped by faith. He graduated from Illinois State University in 2025 with a degree in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management, playing Division I football along the way and serving on his program’s Team Leadership Council. While a student, he won the university’s business competition and launched the funded company that grew out of it.
Zion chose public service because of what he has seen up close. Serving young people through Campus Outreach, youth ministry at his church, and training high school athletes around Houston, he has spent years among a generation that is lost and hurting: strained relationships, declining mental health, addiction, and disorder. He traces these branches to a single root: a generation taught to find truth and identity by looking inward, to the self and its feelings — and so never taught how to seek truth outside themselves. Zion knows that root firsthand. On paper his education was sound; no one would have called it shallow. Only in waking up did he see how little depth it had truly given him. He has spent the past two years seriously studying history, philosophy, economics, and culture for himself — and what began as frustration with institutions unwilling to confront root problems became conviction compelling action rather than observation. Convinced that God is truth, he does not claim to have the solutions, which is part of why he is coming to be formed. One young person at a time was never going to be enough: people are formed by institutions — homes, churches, schools — and that is why he chose public service.
During his time with the John Jay Fellowship this Fall, Zion looks forward to deep study, lasting friendships with fellow believers, and formation for faith-informed public service. Where that service will lead, he does not yet know — and that, too, is why he is coming: to discern it.
Caitlyn Haggstrom
Fall 2026 John Jay Fellow
Hometown: Blair, NE
College: Hillsdale College
Major: English
Caitlyn recently graduated from Hillsdale College with a major in English. She was a member of the Collegiate Scholars Program and the Theta Alpha Kappa Theology Honorary. In addition to campus involvements such as playing the French horn in the orchestra and various leadership responsibilities, she served as coach for a Hillsdale Classical School team and interned in the U.S. Senate, presenting talking points, researching bill proposals, composing legislative form letters, and representing legislative staff at Senate briefings to process current legislative concerns.
While Caitlyn greatly enjoyed her liberal arts education and the greater understanding of literature and beauty that it provided, it was the friendships she formed that she cherished most of all. Her exposure to a wide range of denominations represented at Hillsdale sparked a season of intense spiritual formation, inspiring her service on the Student Ministry Board, where she worked in partnership with the chaplain’s office to promote ecumenical Christian community on campus. She also became involved in the Anglican Student Fellowship as well as life at her local parish, an experience she felt to be deeply transformative.
Caitlyn grew up in Nebraska, where she spent most of her time outdoors or with her nose in a book. She is passionate about agriculture, the environment, and holistic health, and she aims to find a career that aligns with one of these interests following her time at John Jay. She is also considering graduate studies in theology. During her semester as a John Jay fellow, Caitlyn is most excited to join Christian community in cultivating a life centered on prayer and hospitality.
cecilia jones
Fall 2026 John Jay Fellow
Hometown: St. Louis, MO
College: Benedictine College
Major: English; Politics and Government
Cecilia Jones is a recent graduate from Benedictine College, double majoring in Politics and Government and English. While at Benedictine, she studied with the Sheridan Honors Institute, a program which integrated the Great Books and Western intellectual tradition into a community that focused on living well together. Additionally, she was a fellow with the Center for Constitutional Liberty, where she participated in moot court competitions and seminar discussions on the founding principles of America. Her academic interests have largely centered on Thomistic justice in literature and the relationship between divine and human law.
Besides these academic pursuits, Cecilia is a student reporter for The College Fix and has been published on the Daily Wire. She has also interned with the Heritage Foundation and the First Things magazine, both of which experiences shaped her by connecting her intellectuality with an active involvement in public life.
In her free time, Cecilia played the violin in her college orchestra and acted in multiple theater productions, including Shakespeare’s Pericles and Moliere’s Tartuffe. After many conversations with college friends on child-like wonder and what it means to be human, Cecilia is excited to join the John Jay fellowship and learn about the true, the good, and the beautiful. Afterwards, she plans to seek a graduate degree in political theory.
Elliott R. jones
Fall 2026 John Jay Fellow
Hometown: Yarmouth Port, MA
College: Boston College
Major: Philosophy
Elliott R. Jones graduated from Boston College in 2026, where he studied philosophy with a focus on early modern philosophy, philosophy of religion, ethics, and phenomenology. His senior honors thesis explored the influence of scholastic metaphysics on René Descartes's theory of ideas in the Meditations on First Philosophy. More broadly, his interests center on the relationship between faith and reason, human flourishing, and the influence of philosophical traditions on culture.
His research has appeared in several undergraduate philosophy journals, and his opinion pieces and film reviews have been published in The Veritas Review, a publication of the Abigail Adams Institute, and Seeking the Good, a publication of Harvard's Leadership & Happiness Laboratory. He has presented his research at the American Academy of Religion, Annual Philosophy Conferences at Emmanuel College and NYU, and the International Conference on Philosophy and Meaning in Life. As an undergraduate, Elliott was inducted into Alpha Sigma Nu, Phi Beta Kappa, and The Order of the Cross and Crown.
At Boston College, Elliott co-founded the Ernest Fortin Society, a humanities debate society, and served as Editor-in-Chief of Dianoia, Boston College's undergraduate philosophy journal. He also held fellowships at the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning, and the Harvard Catholic Forum, where he conducted research on religion and culture and led reading groups on the Christian intellectual tradition.
His internships with the James Wilson Institute and the Witherspoon Institute deepened his interest in the philosophy of law and ethics. Building on that experience, as a Shaftesbury Fellow at the Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy, he completed a research project on Francisco Suárez's philosophy of law.
Outside of philosophy, Elliott enjoys critiquing films, hiking rain or shine, and volunteering.
Following the John Jay Fellowship, Elliott plans to pursue an academic career in philosophy. He looks forward to growing in Christian fellowship as the fellows pursue truth together in a spirit of friendship.
Lillian Kriese
Fall 2026 John Jay Fellow
Hometown: Summerville, SC
College: Clemson University
Major: Political Science
Lillian Kriese is a recent graduate of Clemson University, where she earned her degree in political science, minored in legal studies, and was a Lyceum scholar. As a Lyceum scholar, she studied the great books of western civilization, spent a summer at the American College of Greece, and developed a profound passion for American political thought and the principles of classical liberalism. In addition, she is grateful to be an alumna of AEI Academic Programs, the Koch Internship Program, and the Hudson Institute’s Political Studies Program. She is especially interested in the American founding, the writings of Abraham Lincoln, and constitutional law.
In her time at Clemson, Lillian rowed for Clemson’s club rowing team and served as the club's secretary and vice president during her junior and senior years. These roles gave her the opportunity to coordinate scrimmages with visiting teams, organize community service projects, and plan the team’s annual spring regatta, Clemson Sprints. She also worked as an academic tutor in Clemson’s athletic department and was an active member of AEI’s Collegiate Network.
Lillian is excited for the opportunity to continue considering the ideas that shape great societies in Christian community as a John Jay Fellow. After the fellowship, she hopes to pursue a graduate degree in political philosophy and economics—with the ultimate goal of teaching the great books.
Lillian is originally from Summerville, South Carolina, and enjoys running, hiking, and reading in her spare time.
William Westrick
Fall 2026 John Jay Fellow
Hometown: Indianapolis, IN
College: Ashland University
Major: Political Economics; History
William Westrick is a May 2026 graduate of Ashland University, where he double majored in Political Economics and History. While at Ashland, he completed the Ashbrook Scholar program, a rigorous course of study in American history, politics, and the principles of self-government.
Professionally, William has built a diverse foundation across public policy, logistics, and the nonprofit sector. His experiences includes an internship at the Ashbrook Center, operations work with FedEx and Amazon, and contracting and fundraising work with organizations such as Oxfam. These roles have sharpened his analytical skills and deepened his commitment to hard work, ethical conduct, and professional integrity.
Beyond his professional experience, William served as Grand Procurator of the Theta-Nu Chapter of Kappa Sigma throughout 2025–26. In this role, he was recognized nationally for his work preserving, educating, and elevating the chapter — earning the Outstanding Grand Procurator award as well as several chapter honors. Under his tenure, the Theta-Nu Chapter raised a record-breaking $25,000 for the Mile in a Soldier's Shoes Foundation, an organization that is expected to raise multiple six figures in the coming year.
He is also a co-founder of the Ashland University Socratic Society, an organization modeled on C.S. Lewis's famed Socratic Club (1942–1972). The Society brings together students to engage seriously with questions of politics, religion, history, and philosophy in a spirit of intellectual honesty and mutual respect.
William is eager to bring his analytical background, leadership experience, and deep commitment to civic life into a meaningful career. He looks forward to connecting with professionals in policy, research, communications, and beyond during his time at the John Jay Institute.
Joseph Wozniak
Fall 2026 John Jay Fellow
Hometown: Turnersville, NJ
College: M.A. Georgetown University; B.A. Stockton University
Major: Government; Political Science
Joe Wozniak was raised near the outskirts of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Always captivated by its mystique, he remained close to his hometown and graduated from Stockton University, earning a B.A in Political Science, where he had formative experiences that broadened his intellectual horizons such as reading The Odyssey for a class for military-affiliated students and later visiting Homeric sights such as Ithaki.
Afterwards, he spent two years living, working and studying in Washington, D.C. while earning a M.A. in Government from Georgetown University. While in D.C., Joe interned for both the National Taxpayers Union and the Heritage Foundation’s Allison Center for National Defense.
Joe’s intellectual interests center on the Catholic response to the dislocation brought about by modernity, particularly as it relates to the fields of politics and aesthetics. He is especially interested in the social, political and artistic upheavals that grappled European societies during the interwar period, as well as the postwar efforts of statesmen such as Konrad Adenauer attempting to carry the flame of Christian civilization through the rubble of totalitarianism. Among his intellectual lodestars include Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, Hannah Arendt, Camille Paglia and Jacques Maritain, while as an amateur draughtsmen he takes artistic inspiration from William Blake, Henri Matisse, Leon Krier and Sir Antony Gormley, hoping to eventually hold a candle to the Renaissance Old Masters.
Joe’s work has appeared in publications such as The Federalist, The Daily Signal, and the Cracks in Postmodernity substack. In his free time, he likes to draw, workout, swim, read philosophy and listen to Eurodance music. A self-styled patriot, he has also received an Honorable Discharge from the New Jersey Army National Guard after six years of enlistment. As a John Jay Fellow, Joe hopes to mature spiritually, intellectually and morally while living together within a community devoted to merciful Christ.