Elise Scott
Elise Scott admits she didn’t exactly rocket into the scholarly stratosphere on her way to landing on the academic equivalent of the moon. It was more of a slow burn.
Long before winning the premier graduate fellowship in the United States – the Harry S. Truman Scholarship – Elise began her post-secondary journey at Salt Lake Community College in concurrent enrollment classes while at Murray High School in 2012-13. She recalls the irony of having not done too well in her first SLCC class, an introductory course in communications – now it’s her major, and her passion.
In 2014 she was battling personal struggles when she enrolled full time in college. “I knew SLCC was a wonderful option and something I could actually afford,” Elise says. “I was not the best student for a long time. I just appreciate SLCC for keeping me and tolerating me, especially while I figured out so many things.”
Choosing a major seemed daunting at first. She was hopeful a few ideas might jump out at SLCC. A few did – like her World Religions and Americanization courses, which impressed upon her society’s need to understand and respect all cultures and faiths and treat them as equals. She decided to take time off from college after leaving SLCC in 2016 with an associate degree in general studies and worked to save money while living on her own in Salt Lake City.
In the summer of 2017, Elise was invited to attend a Henry Clay Center for Statesmanship retreat in Kentucky, where she learned about how to “inform discussions on pragmatic public policy in an age of party polarization.” Ideas of learning more about human rights and public service began to catch fire. “That was my first real dip into politics,” she says about the retreat. She learned about bipartisan relationship building, that politics can be heated, and the stakes are high, “…but if you treat people poorly, you won’t be able to advocate on a level you need.” That fall she began at the University of Utah.
Elise points to a few pivotal times at the U of U that have influenced her academic trajectory. She worked at The Daily Utah Chronicle, U of U’s independent student-led newspaper, as an opinion writer, and then the opinion editor in charge of about a dozen writers. “I put a lot of work into their stuff,” she says about being editor. “I wanted them to be proud of their work and to be growing. Writing is so important to figuring out who we are.” With the help of the U of U’s Hinckley Institute, she secured an internship at the Utah Legislature with Rep. Patrice Arent, helping work on legislation that affected air quality funding and strengthening the state’s hate crimes statute. The Hinckley Institute also helped Elise attend a weeklong consortium at the University of Oxford in England, where she learned more about human migration and the need globally to protect human lives and tolerate diversity.
These days, Elise is studying for the LSAT exam for admission into law school. She’s on track to graduate in the fall from the U of U with a bachelor’s degree in political science and communications. But grad school is expensive. She remembered hearing about the Truman Scholarship from a Truman scholar while at the retreat in Kentucky. “I thought, this is not for people like me,” she says. “This year would have been my last chance to apply. I thought I would hate myself for not taking the chance, and taking chances is something you need to do, especially in politics.”
Elise wrote several essays and gathered recommendations to accompany her application. She didn’t think she’d make it past the first round – but she did, and then she made it through the second round and finally to interviews with the selection committee in Arizona. Congress created the scholarship in the 1970s for undergraduate students who demonstrate academic excellence, a commitment to public service and leadership potential. Only about 50 of the $30,000 scholarships are awarded each year. But, again, she still didn’t think she’d win.
This past spring, while the world dealt with a pandemic and people quarantined themselves at home, Elise received a call that there was an “issue” with her summer internship. It was a trick. She ended up on a video conference call that included U of U President Ruth V. Watkins, who told Elise the good news – she won.
“I think they saw how education has enriched my life,” Elise says about the scholarship selection committee. She talked to them about tolerance across political and cultural divides and how public service affects people and what roles government has in ensuring everyone has the same opportunities and the need to protect people’s civil rights along the way. They liked what they heard.
Elise is considering going into criminal law, possibly as a prosecutor, a powerful position she says has a deep impact on the legal process. Her attitude would, of course, be one of approaching the job with tolerance, compassion and understanding, ideas she began learning more about at a community college. “SLCC was a big part of me staying on the horse, not giving up and sharpening myself,” she says. “This is what an education at a community college can do for you. It’s not ‘lesser’ in any sense of the word. The students who go there just need opportunities, recognition and time for the work they’re doing.”