- Posts: 1
- Joined: Jan 03, 2016
- Sun Jan 03, 2016 4:37 pm
#21430
Hi Dave and Powerscore team, I have been obsessively checking your twitter of late and decided to take you up on your offer of brief feedback on my PS. Thanks!
Nothing could fully prepare me for the excessive perspiration on day one of working new student orientation when told I would speak into a microphone and talk to a new crowd of five hundred faces every day for a month at 7:30 am.
After all, coming into college I was shy, scared, almost an anemic presence. I found the transition difficult socially, even as I strived hard to excel academically my first semester. As such, how could I be here doing this I thought to myself? I was one of dozens of students employed by the Office of Admissions for New Student Orientation; why was I given the assignment to corral angst filled freshmen to their seats and speak to the crowd of five hundred? What do I say- do I have a script? My bosses left me alone in a room to my own devices, more or less. As I strolled in front of the ballroom of hundreds I realized I needed a microphone as shouting began to wear off at some point. I had to ask the tech guy for that, another thing no one told me about. I fancied myself to be a fresh Steve Jobs walking on the floor, save a turtleneck or any latest gadget to sell; yet instead I felt like a used car salesman, charged with energizing a crowd at their groggiest, most anxious hour. Some of these people had just driven hours to get here, others had slept overnight in their car, and here was some punchy twenty-year old assuring them Johnny Appleseed had just made the best choice of his or her college career. “What’s your major? Do you like it? Where is the bathroom?”
Like clockwork everyday at 6:30 am I had to get up and shower, put on my same university polo and khakis and catch a bus to the Student Union with various level of eager-filled parents and students. Some were over the moon excited, some barely responsive at all, all somehow befitting in the trappings in a large institution of higher learning. Surviving that month was a direct affront to years of social anxiety I had growing up, but it taught me how to handle all kinds of people and channeled my passion for the idea that everyone should pursue some college or university that suits them.
Now in my senior year of undergrad, and my orientation days behind me I find myself yet another student among throngs of political science and history majors who will apply to study law this year. While immersed in my academic studies my passions have largely been in American politics and public policy and this is the track I have pursued in my political science major complemented by areas of emphasis in U.S. and European history in my history major. This is all considered alongside an interest in women’s studies, which has intersected, in the law-related courses I have taken over the years such as Civil Liberties or my class on “Sexuality, Law, and Politics”. In this latter course, I found deep substance in anti-discrimination laws, writing a 14-page paper on the topic.
One would be remiss, though, to think twenty hours of political science and pre-legal courses a week for three and a half years alone would satisfy an appetite for legal studies. On the contrary, it is real-world applicability I have found utterly satisfying, to take these classroom skills afar. In my capacity serving in student government, for example, I sit on the Student Government Association Judicial Board. Serving a three year appointment - continuously since the fall of 2013 -I have sat hearings and cases, issued written opinions, dissents, concurrences, and the like on a panel with current law students. In one particular case, I found myself the sole dissenting opinion, based on a disagreement in interpretation of the case, and wrote a brief, but pointed dissenting opinion. I was later told the parties who lost their case were at least partially solaced by my dissenting opinion. While my goal was not to make one person happy over another it did enlighten me as to the true impact an item as seemingly trivial as being the ‘one’ in an ‘eight-to-one decision’ can hold, even outside the courtroom.
Additionally, beyond the realms of student government I further represent the role of the judiciary in my capacity as a resident assistant. Here I serve as an advisor to the Student Conduct Board. While my role is purely advisory, it is knowledge gained in positions such as the Judicial Board that has allowed me to read rules differently and have an even greater appreciation for ethics amid the countless cases I have had to confront where accusations of cheating and misconduct are at play.
Finally, deciding on a law school is one of the toughest decisions I can say to be pursuing within the last four years. It evokes strong memories of the laborious process choosing a college for undergrad was. As I embark upon a graduate level decision that will guide me the rest of my life, I hope to follow in the footsteps of my grandfather- a successful private attorney and city councilman, and my mom- an assistant prosecuting attorney in my hometown- and become a third generation law school graduate.
Nothing could fully prepare me for the excessive perspiration on day one of working new student orientation when told I would speak into a microphone and talk to a new crowd of five hundred faces every day for a month at 7:30 am.
After all, coming into college I was shy, scared, almost an anemic presence. I found the transition difficult socially, even as I strived hard to excel academically my first semester. As such, how could I be here doing this I thought to myself? I was one of dozens of students employed by the Office of Admissions for New Student Orientation; why was I given the assignment to corral angst filled freshmen to their seats and speak to the crowd of five hundred? What do I say- do I have a script? My bosses left me alone in a room to my own devices, more or less. As I strolled in front of the ballroom of hundreds I realized I needed a microphone as shouting began to wear off at some point. I had to ask the tech guy for that, another thing no one told me about. I fancied myself to be a fresh Steve Jobs walking on the floor, save a turtleneck or any latest gadget to sell; yet instead I felt like a used car salesman, charged with energizing a crowd at their groggiest, most anxious hour. Some of these people had just driven hours to get here, others had slept overnight in their car, and here was some punchy twenty-year old assuring them Johnny Appleseed had just made the best choice of his or her college career. “What’s your major? Do you like it? Where is the bathroom?”
Like clockwork everyday at 6:30 am I had to get up and shower, put on my same university polo and khakis and catch a bus to the Student Union with various level of eager-filled parents and students. Some were over the moon excited, some barely responsive at all, all somehow befitting in the trappings in a large institution of higher learning. Surviving that month was a direct affront to years of social anxiety I had growing up, but it taught me how to handle all kinds of people and channeled my passion for the idea that everyone should pursue some college or university that suits them.
Now in my senior year of undergrad, and my orientation days behind me I find myself yet another student among throngs of political science and history majors who will apply to study law this year. While immersed in my academic studies my passions have largely been in American politics and public policy and this is the track I have pursued in my political science major complemented by areas of emphasis in U.S. and European history in my history major. This is all considered alongside an interest in women’s studies, which has intersected, in the law-related courses I have taken over the years such as Civil Liberties or my class on “Sexuality, Law, and Politics”. In this latter course, I found deep substance in anti-discrimination laws, writing a 14-page paper on the topic.
One would be remiss, though, to think twenty hours of political science and pre-legal courses a week for three and a half years alone would satisfy an appetite for legal studies. On the contrary, it is real-world applicability I have found utterly satisfying, to take these classroom skills afar. In my capacity serving in student government, for example, I sit on the Student Government Association Judicial Board. Serving a three year appointment - continuously since the fall of 2013 -I have sat hearings and cases, issued written opinions, dissents, concurrences, and the like on a panel with current law students. In one particular case, I found myself the sole dissenting opinion, based on a disagreement in interpretation of the case, and wrote a brief, but pointed dissenting opinion. I was later told the parties who lost their case were at least partially solaced by my dissenting opinion. While my goal was not to make one person happy over another it did enlighten me as to the true impact an item as seemingly trivial as being the ‘one’ in an ‘eight-to-one decision’ can hold, even outside the courtroom.
Additionally, beyond the realms of student government I further represent the role of the judiciary in my capacity as a resident assistant. Here I serve as an advisor to the Student Conduct Board. While my role is purely advisory, it is knowledge gained in positions such as the Judicial Board that has allowed me to read rules differently and have an even greater appreciation for ethics amid the countless cases I have had to confront where accusations of cheating and misconduct are at play.
Finally, deciding on a law school is one of the toughest decisions I can say to be pursuing within the last four years. It evokes strong memories of the laborious process choosing a college for undergrad was. As I embark upon a graduate level decision that will guide me the rest of my life, I hope to follow in the footsteps of my grandfather- a successful private attorney and city councilman, and my mom- an assistant prosecuting attorney in my hometown- and become a third generation law school graduate.
