Beatriz R.

About

Why Beatriz Wants To Serve

I want to do a year of service because I want to help the community I was a part of before I embarked on my academic journey at the University of Florida. I hope to advocate and work for my community in South Florida and around the state after attending law school and becoming an attorney. Before entering law school, however, I want to serve students who are disadvantaged in their prospects in completing high school and making it to college. Students from low-income households, which would likely be first-generation students, and who do not have adequate guidance or role models in their communities, have the potential to become excellent professionals and leaders with the guidance of those who understand their struggles and work with and for their needs.

I, too, was a student in similar circumstances before a group of teachers helped me get through the International Baccalaureate Program, apply to college, and gain admission to the University of Florida (UF). After four years students at UF, my world view and prospects have increased in scope and optimism, and I have overcome obstacles and grown as a person in ways I would have never thought possible. All of this was possible because of the education I have received. I want nothing more than for students of my community back home, of all backgrounds and experiences, to have a fair shot at an academic experience like mine if they so choose to. I hope to provide the guidance and support they need to dare to reach for greater and do more than what they may be seeing in their immediate vicinity. All of us, as a community and a world, would be much better off if the door of opportunity was open for all children.

I hope to do my part at chipping away at the problem of inequality my evening the odds for those students who need people to work for and believe in them the most. Through my work as an undergraduate at UF, I have led student organization and acquired skills that will be valuable for this opportunity. As President of Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity, I have organized and moderated a chapter of 300 students and the largest prelaw organization at the UF campus. I have also completed various policy and government research projects focused on Florida, justice, inequality and education issues through my fellowship with the City of Gainesville, work in the Bob Graham Center for Public Service, and internships at the non-profits Southern Legal Counsel and National Legal Aid and Defender Association. Finally, I have committed to volunteering efforts for students and minority communities through various mentorship programs and the Hispanic Student Association. Through these positions and programs, I have become more educated about the large, systemic issues at play, as well as on the difference that mentors and leaders can make in evening those odds. Before I commence my career at tackling those broader, systemic issues through law and policy, I hope to gain experience at the local level and to give back to students in real time who would not otherwise be helped given the slow-moving process of policy change.

I feel unbelievably lucky and grateful to have had these professional opportunities, and want to take what I have learned to give back for a year and to make sure that many more students in West Palm Beach can pave their own paths to success in college and beyond.

Languages Spoken

English