LaWanda Jewell Williams, who will receive her degree in human service studies this weekend, aspires to a career in child advocacy and human rights law. Adriana Rovers/University Photography
Since fourth grade, LaWanda Jewel Williams, a senior in human service studies, knew that she wanted to go to law school. "I was always questioning my teachers, defending people, analyzing the situation and trying to solve problems," she said. "I can't remember not doing it."
So far, four law schools have accepted her, though Williams hasn't decided which one she'll enter in the fall. She expects her transition to law school, however, will be smoother than her early transition to Cornell.
"At first, I felt invisible. But with plenty of faith and support from counselors, professors, the residents of Ujamaa Residential College and people who had a sincere desire for me to do well, I've been able to navigate among the social and cultural obstacles. I've learned to cope," she said.
Williams, in fact, has done more than cope during her four years on campus: She's made Dean's List, the Golden Key National Honor Society and the Kappa Omicron Nu National Honor Society, and she was selected as one of 16 outstanding seniors in the College of Human Ecology.
And that's not all. She's served as director of the Pamaja Ni Gospel Choir, the productions assistant and publicity chair of the Festival of Black Gospel, the music coordinator of the Baraka Kwa Wimbo Female Ensemble and president of the student-employee literacy program of the Community Learning and Service Partnership (CLASP).
With CLASP, Williams worked as a peer group facilitator helping students prepare for any difficulties they might experience while offering literacy skills to a residence or dining hall worker who was likely much older and from a very different cultural background. Williams also served as an intern, editing the CLASP newsletter for a year, working as a liaison between the CLASP program and a local union, and serving as an adult literacy tutor herself, helping an Asian employee at Cornell with her English accent.
With a minor in the child, the family and public policy, Williams also has focused much of her efforts on children caught in the legal or social service system. She's tutored a school-age girl at Ithaca's Southside Community Center, helped collect data on children and violence for the Family Life Development Center at Cornell and served as a court-appointed special advocate (CASA) for the Family Court Advocate Program on Long Island.
"As a CASA worker, I advocate on behalf of a foster child. My job is to determine where the child should be placed depending upon his or her educational, cultural, emotional and physical progress."
One of her most significant Cornell experiences was the semester she spent in the Cornell-in-Washington Program in Washington, D.C., where she worked as an intern for Bread for the World (BFW), an anti-hunger Christian citizens movement.
"I worked as a lobbyist and public policy analyst and witnessed the process by which a bill is transformed into public policy by various Congressional committees and interest groups before the parties that will be most affected by the new law are ever informed of its existence.
"That's when I decided that I needed to be a person with political power in order to effect change," Williams said.
To help prepare, Williams applied to and has been accepted to spend four weeks this summer at a special program on international mediation and conflict resolution and international banking at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
"After law school, I plan to go into child advocacy, human rights law and international law. As part of the political arena, I hope to create ways in which disadvantaged people can have greater access to valuable resources," she said. "Ultimately, however, I see myself in the ministry full time."