Several students and the law school’s senior associate dean for admissions took part in programs organized over two days in Greensboro, North Carolina, at N.C. A&T State University and Bennett College.
Students and graduates of historically black colleges and universities can have unique issues and concerns during the law school application process.
What better way to alleviate concerns than by connecting prospective law students with those who have experienced law school and can share practical advice?
The 4th Annual National HBCU Pre-Law Summit welcomed hundreds of people to Greensboro, North Carolina, in mid September with panels, presentations, and networking events intended to grow the number of ambitious young men and women from HBCUs who pursue a legal career.
Speakers shared personal stories – both good and bad – of their legal education. They also offered encouragement and illustrated the way a legal education can benefit someone’s community.
Elon Law was a sponsor of the Sept. 15-16 event and hosted a group of pre-law students who attended a brief admission session with Alan Woodlief, senior associate dean for admissions, administration, and finance, and with current students Aarin Miles, Jaylyn Noble, and Maddie Turpen. Elon Law’s Black Law Student Association took a leadership role in recruiting current law students to serve as panelists.
“Elon Law was happy to support this important event aimed at increasing the diversity of the legal profession,” Woodlief said. “It was great to speak to so many young people from our close neighbors at A&T and Bennett College, and from other HBCUs in North Carolina and across the country. We hope what they learned will propel them to attending law school, and that many of them will consider Elon.”
The presence of Elon Law’s Black Law Students Association at the summit, as well as that of the admissions program, demonstrated for attendees that they can go somewhere where they will no longer be the majority and still find a place to call home, said Shanelle Edmonds, co-president of the BLSA.
“We need more black business attorneys, criminal defense attorneys, property attorneys, immigration attorneys, and more,” Edmonds said. “We have more black entrepreneurs and creative minds coming up in society and legal representation needs to reflect that.
“The value the program brings to prospective minority students – more specifically, black minorities – is that law school is possible. We don’t see enough black lawyers in the black household, so there is a fear that we aren’t capable or able to sustain what law school entails. The value of seeing like faces going through law school and finishing shows prospective students that they can do it as well.”
Additional Elon Law students who contributed to the program were:
- Whitney D. Baker
- Charles Bennett
- Shavonn Bennette
- Tiffany Fitzgerald
- Areion Gamble
- Olivia Lambert-Tucker
- Nicole Opata
- Charles Sexton
- Eboni Thompson
- Ashley Williams
- Phyniques Williams