I am extremely excited and honored to serve as a Dean’s Fellow for the incoming summer start class of 2016. I am currently a 2L summer start and I hope I can help all of the incoming summer starts adjust to this unique and accelerated program. The Dean’s Fellow Program is just one of the great programs the University of Dayton School of Law offers to help new students adjust to law school and my goal as a Dean’s Fellow is to help students not only adjust academically to law school but also to help them adjust to the new environment, which can be very scary at first. I am looking forward to a great summer and I feel so privileged to be given the chance to help others as they begin their journey of becoming successful, practice ready attorneys! 

Coming to law school last year, I felt like I was completely unprepared for what lay ahead.  Thankfully, my Dean’s Fellow was there to coach me through the first challenging semesters.  The Dean’s Fellow Program remains an invaluable asset for me as I continue through my time here at UD.  From the beginning, my passion has been to work with the intent of helping others.  Fortunately, I have a new opportunity to do so by being a Dean’s Fellow for our incoming summer starts.  I am thrilled to help new students along the first overwhelming steps into law school by being a mentor, sounding board, and encourager.  My hope is that this will be the beginning of a career built on service.  While my path may be different from theirs, we all start in the same place: at our lovely Dayton campus in the summer.  I look forward to seeing where these new students go, and I greatly appreciate the opportunity to work more closely with the Dayton Law community.  

The Dean’s Fellow Program connects upper-level students who are willing to share their experiences in order to help guide and support the newest members of the UDSL community.  Being a Dean’s Fellow allows to me to pass along insight that I have gained over the past year to help incoming first-year students navigate their way through the occasionally intimidating law school experience.  As a summer start student I entered law school just one year ago and believe the efforts of the Dean’s Fellows made a meaningful difference in my transition to law school.  Dean’s Fellows are invaluable resources who work to set-up new students for success in their legal education by fostering academic excellence and community support.  It is an honor to have been selected and I look forward to working with the incoming cohort of first-year students.

I am truly excited for the opportunity to serve as a Dean’s Fellow for the 2016 Summer Semester.  Beginning my journey at UDSL in the summer of 2015, I quickly realized the pivotal role that the Learning Communities were having on my success in law school.  My excitement to serve as a Dean’s Fellow derives from those experiences and realizing that being successful in law school involves much more than I anticipated.  There are the obvious necessities for success in law school – drive, dedication, and discipline.  However, the more nuanced necessities that aid the transition for incoming students into law school are delivered through Learning Communities.  A few of those necessities include instilling confidence, providing encouragement and lending a helping hand students can rely on.  Being able to provide that support system as a Dean’s Fellow, I look forward to guiding incoming law students through obstacles of law school and witnessing them succeed.