Eliza Burdick-Risser ’18 showed no signs of hesitation in getting involved on campus when she transferred to Houghton during her sophomore year. As a senior biochemistry major with a minor in chemistry, Burdick-Risser serves as Executive Director for the NYFCR (New York Federation of College Republicans), president of the Houghton College Republicans Club and Sigma Zeta, the SGA class of 2018 chaplain, and an RA in Gillette for the past two years.
Burdick-Risser transferred from Campbell University after her freshman year. “My freshman year of college I was a Division I athlete at Campbell and was really involved there. We did a lot of outreach programs like helping out with the local schools,” she explained. “Then I got plugged into student government, and I was a freshman RA there, so when I transferred to Houghton I wanted to have the same level of involvement here as well.”
If you would have informed her as a senior in high school about everything in which she would be involved for the next four years of her life, Burdick-Risser admitted that she “would have laughed.” She advised students to not get involved with various opportunities “just because it will look good on a resume, do it because you’re really passionate about it and do it because you enjoy it.” Speaking directly from her own experience at Houghton, Burdick-Risser encouraged students to not waste their college years, but to “take these four years to really cultivate who you are and who you want to be as you transition into adulthood.”
Expressing her passion for politics, Burdick-Risser joined Jonathan Libby ’20 to form the Houghton College Republicans Club last year, which led to their involvement on a state board. “Since September I’ve been serving as the western region chair for the state board of NYFCR, and then a few days ago I accepted a position as the executive director of the federation,” she said. In this position, Burdick-Risser oversees all the regional chairs, and plans different deployments for various candidates.
Additionally, Burdick-Risser serves as president of Sigma Zeta, a STEM honor society on campus. “In order to be in [Sigma Zeta], you have to be completing your sophomore year, be declared as a STEM major, so science, technology, engineering or mathematics, and have above a 3.0 GPA,” she said. STEM hosts a “Lab Saturday” once every semester when local high school students “come participate for the afternoon and kind of get a feel for what college labs are like in chemistry or biology or physics, and we also share a little bit about what we do here as well.” Burdick-Risser appreciates the society’s emphasis on using their gifts to give back to the community.
Burdick-Risser concluded by clarifying the purpose of keeping Christ central in all our pursuits. “Put God first in what you do. Be confident in your identity as a Christian, knowing that everything you do doesn’t define you. [Being a Christian] is what defines you.”
As of now, Burdick-Risser plans on attending New York Chiropractic College in Seneca Falls where she received a scholarship to pursue her passion for sports medicine.