Katherine Burnett, Santa Fe College

Katherine Burnett, an Honors student at Santa Fe College, thrives on political and civic issues and is actively involved in local organizations whose goals are to raise awareness and to effect positive social and political change. Beyond Katherine’s involvement in Santa Fe College’s Democracy Commitment, she is heavily involved in women’s issues locally and throughout Florida. She is a founder of the Florida Political Action Cooperative and a founding member of Unite Women; both groups exist to organize legislative action around and to raise awareness of women’s rights. Through her efforts, the former organization coordinated with several local organizations to protest at the town hall meetings of Congressman Cliff Stearns for various issues that he has advocated, with a particular emphasis on the Congressman’s efforts to strip Planned Parenthood of federal funding. The latter is a new organization that held a grass-roots march on the capital building in Tallahassee, a rally at the governor’s mansion in support of woman’s rights in April, and already has over a thousand members in Florida. Katherine’s remarkable record of political activism sets her apart from the average student, as she is prime example of a civically engaged student who is improving our world.