CLASS OF 2020 Voices
ALIXIS RUSSELL
The end of Alixis Russell’s law school career didn’t turn out t h e way s h e ex p e c t e d .
As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Russell and her fellow Louisville Law classmates returned from spring break to a drastically different landscape than the one they had left — virtual classes and exams, a pass/fail grading system for their final semester, and a postponed graduation.
And for Russell, the pandemic has meant something else: as a member of the Kentucky National Guard, she was called to state active duty.
The nature of these tasks made the call for social distancing difficult, Russell acknowledges. During this mission, Russell didn’t attend her law school classes. She says her professors were supportive and flexible, as they were about her role with the National Guard all during law school. That support has been invaluable during a mentally and emotionally draining time, Russell says. “This time is very stressful and there’s a lot of anxiety. Soldiers are not exempt from that,” she says.
She explains that this means a unit is “called to do whatever the Commonwealth or the Governor needs you to do.” “This time is very stressful and there’s Russell, whose role with the National Guard has been as a paralegal specialist working with JAG attorneys, was called to pack and load boxes for the Dare to Care Food Bank. Some of her fellow soldiers worked the loading docks and sorted donations.
B R A N DE IS B R IE F - 6
a l o t o f a n x i e t y. S o l d i e r s a re n o t exempt from that.” - ALIXIS RUSSELL
