Yesterday was a day of celebration for me and my fellow 1Ls. It was the day that the writing competition was due. It was the day that we could finally embrace summer.
While all of us are understandably eager to have a break from school, I always like to leave a little room for nostalgia. Below are a few anecdotes that I gathered from my 1L friends about their favorite memories from this year, to remind us of what made our first year of law school so special. Enjoy!
My mom always taught me that wherever you go, you should try to leave that place a little better than when you found it.
For those of you who don’t know my segment on Impact, I’m the “Things I Wish I Knew” gal, bringing you little tidbits of hopefully helpful advice from the perspective of someone who felt like she had quite a learning curve for this whole law school thing. I figure that my mistakes and triumphs might make things easier for some of you, so I’m happy to share whatever wisdom I can.
But among all the studying and class and work and job searching, I’ve been working on a little something else, too.
Hi everyone! I have the pleasure of hosting a guest blog from our two fearless Law Student Association leaders from this past year, President Nirav Bhatt and Vice President Andrea Clavijo.
Nirav was also a civil procedure teaching assistant for Professor Mark Brodin, the former president of the South Asian Law Students Association (SALSA), and a former 2L and 1L representative of the LSA. Andrea (or Dre, as her friends know her) was the founder of the BC Law Ambassadors program, a member of the Criminal Procedure Moot Court Team, and executive board member of the Latin American Law Students Association (LALSA), and a former secretary and 1L representative of the LSA. Both are amazing Eagles, friends, and people, and, on a personal note, my law school experience would not have been the same without them.
Dear BC Law,
Thank you. As your outgoing elected leaders, we want to first and foremost send a huge thank you to all of you for your votes in confidence, your support and attendance at events, and, ultimately, your insightful and thoughtful suggestions to improve the student experience at BC Law. It has been an honor to represent the interests and needs of each and every one of you.
The BC Law community rightfully expects the Law Students Association (LSA), the student government on campus, to voice student concerns to the administration, preserve traditional programming that students have grown accustomed to, and use our resources and access to administrative leadership to continually improve student life at BC Law on all fronts – socially, academically, and professionally.
Earlier today, Dean Vincent Rougeau emailed the members of the BC Law community and announced that U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire will address the Class of 2016 at Boston College Law School’s Commencement on May 27.
Here is Dean Rougeau’s email:
When I accepted Boston College Law School’s offer of admission in 2014, I did not know exactly what to expect from my law school experience. It was the first time since third grade that I was going to show up to school on the first day without knowing a single person.
I woke up at 5 a.m. to drive down to Newton from New Hampshire on the morning of orientation. If I had left after 6 a.m., my dad assured me, I would not make it on time. Throughout the day I got to know the campus and sat through presentations by the Dean and other faculty. They called BC the “Disney World of law schools,” but said that we would also be challenged academically. They spoke of the Jesuit ideals of the quest for knowledge and care for the whole person, the importance of contributing to society and treating your classmates well. At the time, I was hoping what they were espousing would turn out to be true.
Name: Heather Perez
Year: 2L (Class of 2017)
Organization: Latin American Law Students Association (President)
Undergraduate Institution: Boston University
Experiences between college and law school:
I worked in public service in Boston as the Legislative Aide for State Representative Willie Mae Allen. Later, I served as the Chief of Staff for Boston City Councilor At-Large Felix G. Arroyo, and helped lead his campaign for Mayor.
Favorite event that your organization plans:
LALSA hosts a “Day in the Life” for local high school students to come to BC Law and get a personal look at being a law student from the perspective of LALSA members. Part of our goals as an organization is to provide mentorship and it’s great to be able to do that both within our BC Law community and in the Greater Boston community.
Author’s Note: Kelsey Gasseling (KG) is a 1L at BC Law and a member of LAMBDA, the LGBTQ affinity group at BC Law.
When I was 17 years old I went on a gender pronoun boycott. After coming out of the closet and realizing life could go on somewhat normally (no fire and brimstone, much to my Catholic school-kid surprise), I started to analyze what made me, “me.” I had the fortune of being a white teenager from the Pacific Northwest, with a supportive mother and access to a vibrant LGBTQ youth center. This gave me a relatively safe space to explore my identity outside of the conventional male/female binary. Today, I find myself confronting a new set of questions revolving around gender norms in the typically more conservative Boston legal market.
Editor’s Note: Alex Porter will serve as the President of the Boston College Law Students Association for the 2016-17 academic year. Much like his predecessor, Alex embodies the very best qualities that BC Law students have to offer. As a member of the Boston College Law Review alongside him, I know for a fact that as incoming students you will be in very capable hands. Without further ado, I am very pleased to present his welcome letter to the Class of 2019.
![The_Four_Alexes[1]](https://bclawimpact.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/the_four_alexes1.jpg)
President-Elect Alex Porter (second from right) along with three of his classmates.
This August, you will become the newest (and most celebrated!) members of our truly extraordinary community. It is a community that eschews one-size-fits-all happiness because we choose instead to value the whole person. Here, it matters that you were the captain of your track team in college, or served as an aide to the Secretary of Transportation, or had first-hand knowledge of tort law due to an unfortunate car accident. Here, whether your family came on the Mayflower or whether you just stepped off the plane from Bangalore, your classmates will want to know – and will value – your story. Please understand that this doesn’t mean an easy ride; you will work harder than you ever have in your life, and you will be challenged to achieve more than you thought possible in the classroom and beyond. But you will do it in a supportive, caring environment that lifts you up so we all get there together, rather than tearing you down.
Friendly competition can be a great thing, but cutthroat competition is not, and we won’t stand for that here.
Hi everyone! It’s been a while since my last post because I and the admissions committee have been hard at work on a few projects (one soon to come – stay tuned!) including this one.
We know that getting to campus for a visit may be cost-prohibitive or otherwise impossible for some of our students outside of the Northeast, and in conjunction with the Office of Admissions, we’ve made it so that you can take a tour from the comfort of your own home! Watch the replay on You Tube:
Name: Zain Ahmad
Year: 2L, Class of 2017
Affinity Group: South Asian Law Students Association (SALSA); President
Undergraduate Institution: Rutgers University, BA Political Science, graduated cum laude
Experiences between college and law school:
I worked as a paralegal at Covington & Burling LLP in New York City for two years.
Favorite event that your organization plans:
I’m proud of SALSA’s programming this year. My favorite events are the ones where we collaborate with other student organizations on campus to advance important conversations forward. It was a pleasure working with the Women’s Law Center (WLC) on our first film screening of “He Named Me Malala” with an open discussion following the movie. I also enjoyed working with the Black Law Students Association (BLSA) on Culture Shock: Spectrums of Privilege and the ensuing conversations the event sparked. I am looking forward to our forthcoming collaboration with the Middle Eastern Law Students Association (MELSA) on Monday April 4th where we will have a roundtable discussion on breaking stereotypes in the current political climate. My hope this semester was to partner up with many student organizations on campus and help advance important conversations forward.
