News from The Mahurin Honors College

Sydney Windhorst (MHC ‘25) from Crestwood, Kentucky, is majoring in International Affairs with minors in Journalism Writing and Political Science. She came to WKU to pursue the plethora of study abroad opportunities, and has truly explored both the world and potential careers during her time in the MHC.

As a third generation WKU student, Sydney always had WKU on her list of potential colleges. However, she stated that “I kept discounting it until I went to my VIP visit with honors…I remember walking away like ‘if they’re going to put this much effort and time into a student who’s not even committed to going here, I can’t imagine what it will be like if I go to Western.”

Sydney’s big dream is to work for the Foreign Service at an embassy abroad, to “bridge the gap between international and U.S. citizens and to be an advocate for them.” Originally, Sydney wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to make studying abroad work in the early parts of her college career. However, with the encouragement and guidance of another MHC scholar, she was able to study abroad in the Spring 2023 semester in Florence, Italy. Sydney emphasized how studying abroad widened her worldview and changed how she viewed college and her life. “I'd been out of the states on a cruise for like a week on vacations, but nothing like this. So it was exciting and terrifying and wonderful. And no part of me came back the same and it all changed for the better. My world got so much bigger.” 

When Sydney got home from Italy, she knew she wanted to study abroad again as soon as possible. When she started planning her next experience, she looked at opportunities worldwide. “It was important to me to have a diverse background…I knew I needed to go to a different continent…I worked with the study abroad department to develop a trip to Thailand.” She is currently studying in Thailand during this Spring 2024 semester. 

Sydney worked with the Office of Scholar Development to plan her study abroad trips, as well as in her search for summer internships. “[OSD] are just these powerhouse rock stars. They open doors you didn’t even know existed and I owe most of my successes to them.” Sydney interned during the summer of 2023 internship with the Republican Party of Kentucky, where she worked on Senator Rand Paul and Representative Kevin Jackson’s campaigns. OSD helped facilitate her application to Senator Paul’s summer 2023 internship in Washington, D.C. Sydney received that internship, and spent six weeks working in the front office, taking calls and making connections with current United States politicians and journalists. The Office of Scholar Development also assisted Sydney in applying for the American Enterprise Institute Summer Scholars, “a week long Honors Program in D.C., which she was also accepted to.”

Sydney’s Fall 2023 semester was filled with applications for upcoming internships and opportunities. “[This Fall] semester, I applied for a lot which I think is important to note, because while you as a student can read about all of the successes someone has because that's what gets published but they don't always talk about how many times they applied and were rejected, but that's more part of the process than the acceptances are…but all of these things, even when it's a no, sitting down and writing out [applications] has kind of helped me narrow in my scope and refine what I want to do and why I want to do it.” Sydney was accepted to the U.S. State Department Student Internship Program for this upcoming summer.

Sydney emphasized how much the MHC has helped her grow throughout her undergraduate experience. “The people who push you and love you and pick you up are found in the Honors College and some of them are stem, or finance and it's people that you would never have met otherwise…but it's because you have that same Honors College bond and scholarly mindset.” Being a part of the MHC Branding Team also gave Sydney the opportunity to write and meet new people. “I got to talk to the coolest people and get all of their advice about what makes them cool and what makes them tick and who helped them along the way…I learned how to storytell and learn about what makes a good story, and how to write my own [story], and where I see myself going.”