Reilly Bettis

2021 Award: Outstanding Senior Student in Criminology
Major: Criminology
Minor: Art
Hometown: Scottsdale, AZ
Extracurricular activities: I volunteer at Odyssey Youth Movement and have conducted undergraduate research through the Killen Scholarship and Morris Fellowship. I enjoy cooking, baking, weightlifting, and spending time with my friends and my girlfriend.

 

More about Reilly

Future plans:

I will be working toward my Master’s in Sociology at the University of Glasgow in the fall. I plan to be a professor in the future.

How has your major contributed to your professional or personal development?

Studying Criminology has opened my eyes to the truth about justice and inequality. Learning about social justice inspired me to come out as gay and begin to live authentically. Through the past four years, I have found a passion for starting conversations about marginality and exclusion. I look forward to pursuing these topics in my future studies.

What has been your proudest or most significant accomplishment during your Gonzaga career?

My proudest accomplishment has been the research I have conducted as an undergraduate at Gonzaga. I have studied the intersection of queerness and Catholicism over the past two years and have written my Honors thesis on this topic as well. This work has allowed me to give a voice and a platform to others who stand at that intersection of identity, and I have learned more about myself and the world we live in as a result.