Recognizing where you’ve been helps you to see where you are going.
 
Education has always been an important part of my family and my life. For my mother and her family, education was an almost sacred right, with most of her family getting the privilege to attend college.  My father, he was the first in his family to graduate from college. He got off the family farm in South Carolina by going to West Point Military Academy. The Army later sent him to law school.  There he met and married my mother.
 
I grew up in the NC public school system and graduated from NC State University with degrees in Biology and Microbiology.  I was recruited to DePaul University College of Law in Chicago.  This was a whole different experience from what I had grown up with in Hendersonville, in the NC mountains. Chicago was a much larger, and more diverse place than anywhere I had lived. I got to meet people from all over the world who chose to live together and share the same community. DePaul itself was a great learning experience, both in and out of the classroom. 
 
I feel my time at DePaul and in Chicago exposed me to a greater range of humanity than I had ever experienced. DePaul was an open-minded and safe space, where empathy, compassion, and amity were shown to everyone equally.  It reinforced the ideals not to fear our differences, but embrace our diversity.  To give dignity and respect to everyone, and embrace our common humanity. I also learned how our laws and legal system—at their best--should to protect everyone’s rights and keep all our shared community safe. These are values I carry into my court room every day.

 Reflecting on where we have walked in our lives—through science and data driven decisions, and universal empathy and the protection of everyone’s rights—helps me see my path forward.

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