Ella Bussell

Ella is a junior political science major from Brodhead, Kentucky, with minors in the Hesburgh Program in Public Service; Education, Schooling, and Society; and Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. Ella lives in Ryan Hall, and her favorite hall tradition is FJ's, where each Tuesday, Ryan residents bake with the hall's Priest in Residence, Father Joe (FJ), and after hall council that night, they open their doors to all of campus for an ice cream and cookie social.

For Ella, community was the deciding factor in choosing Notre Dame. "Coming to Notre Dame from a small town with a tight-knit community, I had grown up used to the idea of being known in the spaces I was in. So as I searched for a college, I knew that community was crucial," Ella says. "At Notre Dame, students are loved and prayed for daily. This community truly reflects a shared commitment to one another, and you see it on every corner of campus. I decided to make Notre Dame my home because that is exactly what I saw others finding here: a home."

On campus, Ella is involved with student government, the Washington Program, the Transformational Leaders Program, the McInerney Fellows through the Office of Student Enrichment, STARS (Rural Students @ ND), the Kellogg Institute, Ryan Flag Football, EURO Fellows, and the Sullivan Undergraduate Saints Fellowship. Ella completed the Washington Program with a congressional internship in the House of Representatives in Spring 2026, studied in Rome and Vietnam in Summer 2026, and did service-learning in Zambia during Summer 2025.

Ask Ella about being a rural or small-town student, student government, traveling internationally through ND programs, financial aid and affording the ND experience, pre-law, the Cincinnati Bengals, and interhall flag football.