Involvement That's Impacted My College Experience

While I have been in college, I have been involved in a significant number of clubs. These clubs have almost always been related to law or policy enforcement. The combination of these clubs or other involvement have created a major impact on where my interests lie and ultimately where my research has been centered.

My first, and probably most influential, piece of involvement, is the housing judicial board. I was involved in this organization for two years, one of which I was the secretary. In this organization we heard cases involving student misconduct in on-campus housing. If I could compare it to anything, it would be a courtroom. The members act like lawyers when they are asking questions regarding the incident, and jurors when they deliberate on a decision and/or punishment. This is not the reason this organization is the most influential to me though. In my time as the secretary I got the privilege to meet with some higher ranking members of the housing staff. I got to hear about potential changes they wanted to make before they were known to others and go to provide my feedback. In one meeting we were told about housing wanting to ban items from being displayed in windows of dorm rooms. I voiced my feedback on the issue, but they still went through with the plan. There were complex legal issues in doing this because we had already signed our housing contracts so they couldn’t change our housing contract to include it. To get around this they put this policy in the housing judicial code. This organization is most responsible for the research I intend to work on.

My next major involvement is the Student Senate. Student Senators draft, deliberate, and vote on legislation that is intended to help address student needs and concerns. While the Student Senate does not have literal power to do everything that passes, it goes to the Chancellor and other university administration members and they decide if the university would like to adopt the resolution. The Student Senate also determines the allocation of millions of dollars from student tuition. Being a political science major, this organization is very relevant to my major. While I do not think I want to be a politician, it is a great experience to have.

I am also the president of the Pre-Law Club on campus. I joined the club last year as the Vice President and took over as the President this academic year when a vacancy arose. As the president I run meetings, connect members to law schools, and do prep for the LSAT.

My final piece of involvement is my time as a Resident Assistant. Of all of these, this is probably my favorite extracurricular I participate in. While it is my largest time commitment, it is also the most rewarding in a way. As an RA we attempt to create an inclusive living environment. We also do a fair amount of policy enforcement while we are “on-duty”. There are so many other things that we do that are as simple as bulletin boards about various topics or complex things organizing events for the hall to inspire a sense of community.

As a whole, all of my involvement over my three years in college has greatly impacted what I want to do in the future. My goal is now to go to law school and that was something I had not taken seriously for a couple years. My involvement has been the greatest influence on my decisions and I am pleased with the level of commitment I have given to the university in the various leadership roles I took on.