2 minute read
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
A STEP CLOSER TO HER DREAM
Scholarship recipient to advocate for labor justice
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BY DEBORAH TAYLOR
Sara Salinas ’22 has another accomplishment to celebrate this spring in addition to earning her law degree. She has been named as the 2022 winner of the distinguished Myers Law Scholarship at American University Washington College of Law.
Upon hearing of her win, she reacted by saying, “I was crying because this is going to put me in so much less debt. This scholarship means students like me don’t have to focus just on paying back their loans. They can focus on their dreams.”
The Myers Law Scholarship was created by John Sherman Myers, WCL dean from 1956 to 1967, and Alvina Reckman Myers to ease the financial strain on law students while ensuring excellence in education. WCL’s most prestigious scholarship, it funds up to 125% of one year of tuition for a fulltime JD student annually.
Growing up in California as the third child and only daughter of Mexican American blue-collar workers, Salinas became sensitized to labor injustice.
“My mom worked two part-time jobs and my parents would both tell me about things that happened to them, like working overtime without getting paid. As a kid, I didn’t know what exactly was wrong with that, I just knew it wasn’t right. My mom is now in dialysis, and the global retailer she works for doesn’t really like giving people time off for health reasons,” she explained.
“Throughout my entire life, I saw the lack of representation and resources for my parents and a lot of the Mexican American community, and it drove me to go into law.”
Salinas graduated from California State University, Fullerton, where she majored in political science and minored in international relations. AUWCL was her logical choice, an institution located in the nation’s capital, renowned for its international law program and home to a “warm and diverse environment” in which she could be comfortable.
“There is a large Latino population here and having friends made law school an awful lot easier. And it’s helped me a lot to see Latina representation in the professors. I have a really close connection with Professor Claudia Martin. Talking to someone who has had similar experiences and who looks a little bit like me is comforting,” she said.
Salinas is a member of the Latin American Law Student Association and the International Law Review, as well as a leader of the Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and a dean’s fellow for the Immigrant Justice Clinic. She is an officer for the African Law and Policy Association, and she recently traveled to Athens, Greece, as a member of the Transactional Negotiation Team to compete in the finals of the international negotiation challenge competition.
She praises her WCL friendships with students and faculty for sustaining her during her most difficult days. She regrets not reaching out sooner for help.
“I definitely had a moment when I asked myself, ‘Am I in the right place?’ and ‘Do I deserve to be here?’ I talked with a professor about it. He said, ‘Yes, you are good. You should be here.’ That was the confirmation I needed,” she said.
With a strong sense of confidence and purpose, Salinas intends to start her own law firm to help underserved communities.
