Evans Becomes Eighth Rhodes Scholar from The College of Idaho

November 14, 2022

Kaya Evans, a 2021 graduate of The College of Idaho, is one of 32 Americans to be named a Rhodes Scholar this year and becomes the eighth alum to win the oldest and most celebrated international fellowship award in the world.

Evans graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in political economy and minors in pre-law, Spanish, environmental science, and anthropology-sociology, while also serving in student government and several clubs. She was also captain of the women’s soccer team for two seasons and helped lead the team to its first conference championship and berth in the national championship tournament, and served on campus as a student ambassador and a PEAK mentor. Originally from Pocatello, her senior thesis focused on issues of voter suppression and since graduating, she returned to eastern Idaho to work on political campaigns.

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Other schools represented in this 2023 Rhodes Scholar class are Harvard (6), Yale (5), Columbia (3), MIT (3), the Armed Services Academies (3), Georgetown (2) and one each from Princeton, Duke, Northwestern, Wake Forest, Texas, Georgia, Washington & Lee, and Arizona State.

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“It's actually very important to me that I'm representing The College of Idaho specifically, and Idaho specifically,” Evans said. “There is a tendency to write off states like Idaho and schools like The College of Idaho, who people probably haven't heard of just because it's so small. Which is unfortunate because it's not a reflection of the quality of the institution at all.” ... Besides Evans, The College of Idaho has had two other Rhodes Scholar finalists over the past two years. Current senior Ian Clifford was a finalist for this year’s class of 2023 and his older brother Andrew Clifford, who graduated in 2021, was a finalist for the Rhodes class of 2022. ... Prior to Evans, the most recent College of Idaho graduate to be named a Rhodes Scholar was Amanda Frickle in 2012.

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