10 minute read
Transformative
T R A N S F O R M A T I V E EXPERIENCE
WHEN SAM JONES STARTED TAKING EVENING CLASSES AT CHAMINADE, HE WASN’T EXPECTING TO BECOME A LAWYER— LET ALONE A MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL BLACK LAWYERS TOP 100, AN ELITE ORGANIZATION OF PREDOMINANTLY AFRICAN AMERICAN ATTORNEYS.
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LAW SCHOOL SEEMED OUT OF REACH. BUT THEN AGAIN, THERE WAS A TIME IN JONES’ LIFE WHEN COLLEGE ALSO SEEMED OUT OF REACH.
SURVIVING CHILDHOOD
Jones’ upbringing was one of survival. He grew up in an impoverished neighborhood in Philadelphia and didn’t have much of a relationship with his birth parents. He had a few experiences with foster families, but didn’t feel comfortable in those environments. By the time he was an adolescent, he was hiding out and living in a local boxing gym.
“The fighters would come in and I would watch them and also box a little bit,” recalls Jones. “Before closing, I’d run upstairs and hide in the locker room and they would lock up and I would stay there.”
Occasionally one of the fighters would give him pocket change to run an errand or take care of their gear, and he would use the money to buy cookies. He lived off of those cookies.
Sometimes he went to school. His school didn’t pay much attention to the whereabouts of their students at the time. When he did attend, it was uncomfortable—he had such a strong sense of not belonging. “I never felt like I belonged, because I was the person that was not normal,” says Jones. But even with his absences, school came easy to him. As long as he did some of the readings, he passed his tests.
Though he knew his experiences were different, he didn’t think about them the way that the world does now.
“When you’re a child, you don’t really know that you’re malnourished or poor,” he explains. “You know you don’t have a normal life because you don’t have a mom or dad to go home to, but you don’t know the extent of your poverty and neglect.”
While a part of him longed for a traditional family setting, he got used to the independence his lifestyle provided. It was peaceful.
He enjoyed being around the boxing champions, THE WAY FORWARD and looked up to them. It’s because of them While the military had offered Jones a way out, and his desire to emulate their dedication and Chaminade offered him a way forward. talent that he was able to avoid so many of When he started full-time at Chaminade, he the common pitfalls that plague underserved had already overcome a lifetime of challenges. communities, like violence and drugs. He got He had lived through childhood homelessness, used to making up stories to appear to be an had lost close friends due to crime and military average child in the inner city—like telling service, and had lost close relatives due to illness. people he was living with his grandmother. He didn’t know what career path he wanted in life
Eventually, the owner of the boxing gym and lacked scholarly direction. But he knew a lot caught on to his routine and told his boxing was riding on getting an education. coach. At his wife’s insistence, the coach began At Chaminade, he began to see that there inviting Jones over for meals on weekends. After was something special outside of military some time, Jones moved in with them full-time life—that a sense of service and brotherhood and became their unofficial adopted son. also existed in the civilian world. A WAY OUT reservations about what he could accomplish After graduating high school, Jones decided weren’t unique to him. to join the military. Although he had been “We are all walking around with certain accepted to a university, the idea of sitting with imperfections, fears and doubts about people who came from traditional backgrounds ourselves,” says Jones. “Some of my classmates intimidated him. Still, he wanted to accomplish who had traditional childhoods and came from something special. His adopted father had wealthy families had just as many doubts instilled in him a hardy respect for hard work and and anxieties as I did, just of a different zero tolerance for failure. nature. Through sharing our imperfections and
The Marines offered him a clean slate—a triumphs, we all became more aware of our place where he could prove himself through hard individual talents.” work. And he did. He entered as an infantryman One experience in particular stands out in and spent most of his time in the field. But he Jones’ memories of Chaminade. moved up the ranks quickly.
The Marines instilled in him a sense of commitment to family values, integrity, judgment and character. He developed a heightened respect “... as far as the for authority, patriotism and leadership.
“I had a great career as a Marine and later civilian community as an Army Reserve officer. My service remains one of the most remarkable experiences of my was concerned, I was life,” says Jones. “At the same time, as far as the civilian community was concerned, I was woefully woefully intimidated intimidated by it and didn’t understand it.”
His first duty station was at Marine Barracks by it and didn’t Hawai'i, where he found out that Chaminade University offered in-person classes on base. understand it.” He started taking classes in the evenings about a year into his service. It made for long days— he’d often spend an entire day out in the field And he began to recognize that his and then go straight into the classroom. But he He was sitting by the fountain near found he had a knack for academic work. He the Mystical Rose Oratory when one of the was successful as a student. professors approached him. The professor, a
As his time on active duty was quickly Marianist Brother, was always so full of joy approaching an end, he thought more deeply and had a great energy to him. Jones had never about his future. He wasn’t comfortable going taken one of his classes, but the way he sought back to the mainland without some direction Jones out made Jones realize just how special it and a path forward, and the last few years as was to be at Chaminade. a student had piqued his interest. There was “It was almost as though he specifically something inside of him that really wanted to wanted to talk to me,” recalls Jones. “He told me experience life as a full-time college student. how much God loved me and how exceptionally
So when his service on active duty came to talented I was, and how great it was that I was an end, he entered reserve status and moved a student at Chaminade. At that moment, my into a shared apartment on campus with two thoughts in response to his remarks were, ‘Me? Chaminade basketball players. I make Chaminade a special place?’”
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The two talked for a long time. The professor discussed what it really meant to be educated and to serve others, and how an education would open the door to anything Jones wanted to achieve in life.
Jones remembers thinking back to his childhood, and to the lack of role models he had growing up. People in his neighborhood were lucky if they graduated high school—for most, a college degree wasn’t even on the radar.
“More tellingly, none of us actually believed we could acquire the type of prestige characteristically associated with professional careers,” describes Jones. “None of us knew a person from our community that did, in fact, make it.”
There was something about the professor’s confidence in Jones’ abilities that helped propel him forward. The professor didn’t allow him to engage in self-doubt or disconnect himself from those around him. Rather, the professor encouraged Jones to share his personality and embrace his nature and experiences. Jones wanted to emulate Chaminade’s faculty’s selflessness and faith in humanity.
The constant narrative at Chaminade of being loved and serving others, combined with his understanding of the frustration and indignation that so many in his childhood community felt, motivated Jones.
DEFINING SERVICE
Over time, Jones began to see a common thread between his experiences in the military and his experiences at Chaminade. Both focused on service, and both fostered a strong sense of community and camaraderie.
But the military was an extremely regimented community, and was centered around national defense and serving the country, particularly during times of war. Chaminade was centered around serving humanity.
He began to see that the values that made him so proud to be a Marine existed in the civilian world as well—only instead of being groomed for combat and to serve his country, he was being groomed to serve the collective good. He was learning to serve others.
“In the Marines, you’re told you’re special because you’re a Marine,” says Jones. “At Chaminade, you’re special because you’re a human being, and you’re one of God’s children.”
When one of his professors encouraged him to study law, Jones’ initial response was one of self-doubt. Through their discussion, he began to realize that entering the field of law would provide him with the greatest opportunity to serve others.
“The talk fueled my desire to make a positive difference in the lives of others through the law,” recalls Jones. “But perhaps more importantly, I began to understand that what one person can do, I can do.”
But his newfound passion didn’t stop there. The way the professors at Chaminade banded around to support him had a lasting impact.
“I wanted other students to have the benefit of such encouragement and knowledge,” says Jones. “I recall thinking that the study and practice of law wouldn’t be enough. Legal education was for me.”
A LEGAL SCHOLAR
Jones graduated with a degree in philosophy from Chaminade in the 1990s. He went on to get his Juris Doctor from Texas Southern University, a historically black university, where he graduated cum laude. He got his advanced law degree, with recognition, from Columbia University.
Along with a distinguished military career, Jones has practiced commercial litigation and has served as the in-house legal counsel for some of the nation’s largest corporations, including AT&T and Blockbuster.
His heart was always in legal education, so he joined the faculty at the John Marshall Law School, now at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He would earn John Marshall Law School’s prestigious legal scholarship award and later become one of two law professors to be the first African American males to earn the rank of full professor in John Marshall Law School’s 117-year history. Today, he serves as an associate dean and professor of law at the law school and specializes in legal ethics, social justice and contracts. And in January of 2020, he was named by The National Black Lawyers to its list of Top 100 lawyers in Illinois, an exclusive invitation-only list limited to those who have achieved outstanding results in their careers.
If anyone knows how much an education can change someone’s entire trajectory, it’s Jones. Education was his ticket, and he attributes much of his success to his experience at Chaminade.
“When I think of an institution that has had a profound impact on my life, of course I think of the military,” says Jones. “I ultimately served for 20 years. But I also think of Chaminade, Texas Southern and Columbia. And without Chaminade, there is no Texas Southern and there is no Columbia.”
The way the Chaminade faculty believed in his abilities changed the way he perceived civilian life. It’s what helped motivate him to keep going, to achieve more, to work harder. Looking back, he has a tremendous respect for educators and the powerful role they play in the lives of their students.
It’s his own students that he’s focused on serving now, though.
Through many lessons and experiences at Chaminade, he fully embraced the idea that every life has limitless value, that there is a sacred connection between all human beings, and we each have a responsibility to cultivate our talents and use them to improve the lives of one another.
“I feel like this message was a gift to me that manifested itself through my Chaminade experience,” explains Jones. “I try to give my students the same gift.”
