By Viridiana Valdez, Fellow Class of 2014
University of Denver Sturm College of Law
As I come closer to the beginning of my third and final year of law school, I cannot help but feel anxious yet excited. I remember when I was barely getting ready to start law school just a couple of years ago and now, I am really close to finishing the race. I am ready to finish strong and reach the end of my academic journey in just one more year.
My journey through law school has not been an easy one, but I am beyond grateful for those that have made it feel a little less rocky. As I tackled the first year of law school, I felt confident in that I had a group of amazing people cheering me on and that let me know I was not alone. I have been able to experience great opportunities in my first two years of law school such as intern in an immigration law firm in the Denver community during the summer of my 1L year, as well as interning for the Honorable Christine Arguello. My semester at the U.S. District courthouse was such a unique and amazing experience that taught me so much. It is because of my time there and being surrounded by Judge Arguello’s fantastic law clerks that I exponentially improved in my writing enough for my professor to select my semester article for a national writing competition. Although I did not win, I felt accomplished knowing that my writing was deserving of even competing with other great writers from law schools around the country. It is also thanks to my judicial internship that I was able to gain employment at a local Denver law firm as a student legal assistant in which I have the opportunity to work on writing motions based on the research I conduct.
Overall, my law school experience has been a positive and exciting one that has taught me so much about not just the legal field, but also new perspectives on the world itself. It has completely changed the way I think and the way I react in certain circumstances. Law school is the best decision I could have made, and I am ecstatic for my last year. I am ready to continue learning from such amazing professors and classmates. I am also ready for the challenges I will embark as I prepare for the MPRE I will be taking this fall and the bar exam I will be taking next summer. It’s a bittersweet feeling knowing my academic years are coming to an end, but that only means it’s the beginning to the career I’ve dreamed of for so long. I have overcome the obstacles that were against me to get this far, and I am ready to overcome the ones that I will hit along my way in the future.
Thank you Law School Yes We Can for helping me get this far and providing me with the correct guidance and support necessary for me to achieve my dreams.
