Kamyar Afshar Advancement for Higher Education Scholarship

Growing up I had the most supportive, amazing family. I was given blessings not many people have received growing up. I was under the impression every family was similar to mine. In high school, I decided to take a law class to see if law is a career I would consider. For as long as I could remember, I wanted to pursue criminal law, once my law class took a trip to the local justice courts, I got the opportunity to see a live trial, where broken homes from all over the city come and fight for the custody of an innocent or abused child. My heart ached for the kids who needed representation in a situation where they do not have a voice, their lawyer was their voice to ensure their happy safe lives. Once completing and furthering my education, I plan on working in family courts as a civil attorney. Working in this field gives me a sense of responsibility for children and giving them a life to, or close to what I grew up with. Working in and practicing law in general, gives me a responsibility to make a change and impact the community around me. As a practicing attorney, I will be the hero of these children seeking sanctuary, which can alter how they perceive the world for the rest of their lives. Kids growing up in poor living environments grow to resent the world around them for not protecting them when they needed it the most. My future career kills two birds with one stone. Not only am I protecting children in unsafe living conditions, but I am, hopefully, taking away responsibility from certain caretakers that never deserved the gift or responsibility of a child. Giving an immature, or abusive caretaker a child is congruent with giving a criminal a gun. It has always been said to never "bring work home", but if my job consists of zero benefits to my community, then it was for nothing, and I stand by that morally at home or in social circles and ethically in my career. I have never been so sure about a degree and career choice in my life, and it shows in my attitude toward my education. I am extremely eager to learn and understand what I will soon be practicing. There is so much grey area in Law that, to understand, must be debated and I love hearing other people's perspectives on certain topics, whether it's final case verdicts or whether or not a case should've gone to trial, or even the charges being given. Thank you for your consideration, I am excited to hear back, and greatly appreciate the time sacrificed.