Graduation 2012

My name is Maricella Garcia. I'm from California originally, but now I'm from Little Rock. Hello. My name is Jose Alfaro, and I'm from El Paso, Texas. Hello. My name is Tamika Edwards, and I'm from Little Rock, Arkansas. Hello. My name is Lauren Ferris, and I'm from El Paso, Texas. Hello, my name is Elizabeth Armstrong, and I'm originally from Mississippi. Hello. My name is Caleb Garcia. I'm originally from Colorado, but I grew up in south Texas most of my life. Hello. My name is James Scurlock, and I'm originally from Gallatin, Texas. My name is Jeffrey Thomas, and I'm from Magnolia, Arkansas. I had a bunch of women who were around me who inspired me to become a lawyer. My family. Working with people out in the community. I chose UALR Bowen School of Law because Little Rock is a great city. It's the capital. Everything is happening down here. They sent the letter in the mail saying I could come so that's why I came. I chose Bowen primarily because of the fact that it had a great reputation especially with regard to writing, which was something I really wanted to get involved in. I chose it because I visited the law school, and the people were very welcoming and extremely friendly. I felt like they were family here and accepted me without really even knowing me. They were just very kind to me. There was... I don't know how secret it was... If you go into the library on the first floor, all the way to the back by the computers, there is this one lonely table that no one ever sits at. It's quiet. That's where I got most of my studying done. In my car. It was closed in. I didn't have to worry about people passing by and talking to me, so I just sat in my car most times to study. I worked at the library, so most times it was hard for me to study in the building cause everybody came up to me to talk to me. But I had a few secret places no one really knows about. We'll keep it that way so people in future years can have those spots as well. On the first floor of the library, there's a back table - right in the back by the computer lab. I would try to go back there and do my homework. It was pretty quiet cause no one came back there too often. The fourth floor of the library in the little cubicle areas by the bathrooms. No one ever went there. In the gallery on the second floor. If you go up there, no one's really up there. You can get in the corner of the couch and spread out. I think that what I want to do is work with the immigrant community in Arkansas. I think that it's a community that is underserved. They don't have a lot of access. A lot of the things that are going on right now are really hard for them to deal with. So, for me, public service is about giving back to your community that you came from. I enjoyed going to school every day because of those values. What the school did for me was it showed me how I can use them as a tool. They trained me to better take these values into the community. I think the public service is the one that I really enjoyed. I did a lot of volunteer work. I'm gonna miss the people and always having friends around and the professors and administration around to help you with anything you needed. Just having that family unit. I'm gonna miss all the people that I had the privilege of getting to know and meet and hang out with. There's a lot of great people at this school, and I'm gonna miss them all. Nothing. I've been here too long; I want to move on. I'm gonna miss the people. I've made tons of friends, and also the professors have been wonderful. It's the people that make this school.