Katie Davis discovers a new world just down the road at Ole Miss
The idea of venturing out of your comfort zone can conjure visions of faraway or unfamiliar places. But sometimes you don’t have to go very far to discover new worlds, new perspectives and new opportunities.
This has certainly been true for Katie Davis, of New Albany, who is getting ready to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
Katie, a self-described “jack-of-all-trades,” is curious and driven. Her family and friends paint her as peppy, spontaneous and an undeterrable optimist. She first found her way to Ole Miss through the Lott Summer College for High School Students program.
However, when it came time to choose a college, she hesitated at the fact that the university was only 40 minutes from her hometown.
“Growing up in a town close to Oxford, all that I associated with fall at Ole Miss was football frenzy,” Katie said. “Still, I was drawn in by the cultures of curiosity and academic achievement that the Sally McDonnel Barksdale Honors College and the Croft Institute for International Studies fostered.
“When I got to Ole Miss, my peers inspired me to grapple with hard questions and do the work it takes to make the world a brighter place.”
Katie – double majoring in international studies and public policy leadership with a Spanish minor – loves learning about different facets of the human experience and visualizing the big picture. It is what draws her to a career in public policy research and feeds her passion for travel.
And the opportunities she found at Ole Miss have served as a springboard to the world.
Through Freshman Ventures and Junior Quest trips sponsored by the Honors College, Katie traveled to Boston with groups of classmates. The summer after her freshman year, she studied at the London School of Economics and was able to explore Ireland, France and Greece.
Katie comes down off a climbing wall put up by SAA on the first day of her sophomore year. 
Katie interned for the Office of Senator Hyde-Smith in Washington D.C. during the summer after her junior year. 
Katie studied at the London School of Economics in London with the help from a grant from the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College.
During fall 2018, Katie studied abroad in Valparaiso, Chile. During this time, Katie visited friends in her Croft cohort in Argentina, Uruguay, Peru and Brazil.
But study abroad was not the only area that Katie jumped into with her trademark enthusiasm. She also joined Delta Gamma sorority, worked at Rebel Radio, served in the ASB Senate and volunteered with LeapFrog Tutoring, among many other activities. She even tried almost every intramural sport on campus, including inner tube water polo, life-size battleship and dodgeball.
“My greatest honor has been to represent our university, leading campus tours for three years as an Ole Miss Ambassador,” Katie said. “I was also honored to be elected a Campus Favorite, chosen as a Who’s Who recipient and inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa.”
During her time on campus, Katie also embraced student traditions.
“My favorite tradition will always be ‘Lock the Vaught,'” Katie said. “It is so powerful to see the groups that don’t always interact during the week, linking arms and cheering on our teams as one big community. Everybody’s Formal is a close second.”
As she gets ready to graduate, Katie has had moments and memories to fill a lifetime. But if she has any regrets, it is that she and her roommate, Cady Cooper, didn’t find a way to fulfill their dream of secretly mattress surfing down the entryway staircase in the Delta Gamma house.
Katie served as a Panhellenic Recruitment Counselor. 
Katie made a close group of friends through the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College and her freshman residence hall floor. They never passed up the chance to throw up their letter signs. 
Katie was initiated to the Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Society her senior year.
Katie eagerly acknowledges that she had an amazing support system at Ole Miss, including the guidance and support she received from her professors as well as Rosie McDavid, her scholarship adviser through Ole Miss First. McDavid helped Katie adjust to life at Ole Miss, held her accountable and provided steady and comforting mentorship.
“It has been a joy to watch Katie grow into the thoughtful leader she has become over the past four years,” said McDavid, Ole Miss First program coordinator. “I cannot wait to see the powerful impact she will have on the world!”
After graduation, Katie plans move to Washington, D.C., and pursue work at a progressive policy think tank. She wants to use her curiosity to help discover creative policy solutions to the problems that hold communities back.
Even while looking forward, Katie reflects upon the fact that Ole Miss will always be the first home that she got to choose herself.
“A degree from here means that no matter where you go in the world, there will be someone looking to encourage and cheer you on as a fellow Rebel,” Katie said. “So many people at this university and through our alumni community have selflessly invested in me, and I want to make them proud.”
By Lisa Stone/University Marketing & Communications
