University of Notre Dame junior Cade Czarnecki is among 20 recipients of a 2025 Key Into Public Service Scholarship from Phi Beta Kappa. He is Notre Dame’s fifth Key Into Public Service Scholar since the program was established in 2020.

The Key Into Public Service Scholarship highlights the wide range of opportunities for arts, humanities, natural and social science and mathematics majors to pursue careers in the public sector.

A political science and economics major from Ohio, Czarnecki worked closely with the Flatley Center for Undergraduate Scholarly Engagement (CUSE) at Notre Dame in applying for the award.

"It was a pleasure working with Cade on his application for this award as he had so many great accomplishments to share with reviewers,” Elise Rudt-Moorthy, associate director of national fellowships at CUSE, said. “He truly seeks to unite liberal arts students across the act of public policy through his on campus clubs like BridgeND and off campus internships."

Czarnecki is an Undergraduate Democracy Fellow, a teaching assistant and president of BridgeND, a “multi-partisan” political club. From September to December of last year, he studied and explored abroad in Greece.

Away from campus, he was an intern with the Department of Commerce and for the campaign of Judge Marilyn Zayas in Ohio. He also clerked for a law firm in Ohio. In his free time, he leads a small group of students who volunteer at Logan Center in South Bend.

Czarnecki will spend the upcoming summer working as a Poverty Research Fellow at the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunity, where he will focus on evidence-based solutions to poverty. Long term, he intends to pursue a law degree in order to translate his research experience into actionable policy change.

“I am very grateful to be selected for the Phi Beta Kappa Society Key into Public Service Scholarship. I see this award as a reflection of my dedication to building a better future for my country and its people, something I take great pride in,” Czarnecki said. “I would particularly like to thank Elise Rudt-Moorthy and Grace Song of Notre Dame’s Flatley Center for Undergraduate Scholarly Engagement for their advice and support in the application process. Their guidance helped me reflect on how my college experience has prepared me to, in Notre Dame’s words, be a force for good in the world.”

He continued, “I look forward to attending the associated conference in Washington, D.C. this summer. I trust that this unique opportunity will further bring into focus the many routes toward careers that affect real, meaningful change in the public sphere.”

For more on this and other scholarship opportunities, visit cuse.nd.edu.