Graphic by Quill Nishi-Leonard ’27 via Canva
BY JO ELLIOTT ’28
FEATURES EDITOR
On Sunday, March 8, International Women’s Day was celebrated at Mount Holyoke College by the panel event, “Leading with Perspectives: The Future of Women of Color in Law.” The panel was joined by guest speakers Siqi Zhao ’17, Ashanta Evans Blackwell ’95 and Rhynette Northcross Hurd ’71. The panelists discussed “their career journeys, the challenges and opportunities they have encountered, or advice on navigating uncertainty in the current political or legal landscape.”
Abby Paull ’28, the social media coordinator of the pre-law board, was “encouraged to go to the event, to show our support for the alums.”
“I thought it was really interesting, [and] I liked the accessibility of it being on Zoom, a lot of times we have our pre-law panels in a conference room, and by this being on Zoom it made it more accessible, for me and a lot of other students to join and learn [new] perspectives.” When asked about the content of the event Paull stated, “I thought their insights on imposter syndrome were the most interesting because we already got into this school so we’re already so much above the curve … but one of them told us we have to take a second to appreciate how far you’ve come.”
When speaking about the alums, Paull said, “They talked about how law can be a gateway to many things, especially working in public policy. That matters a lot to me as someone who wants to potentially go to D.C. post-grad. I think the crucial part is knowing your worth, all of the alums have gone through struggles of their own, and them being confident enough to share that with us and turn that into a positive message meant a lot to me.”
Speaking on what it means for alums to be a part of these events, Paull stated “It gives alums a chance to connect back to their school. We are already a heavily alum based college, and by allowing them to give their perspectives it allows us to learn more about the legal field and understand what it’s like to be a woman in the legal field.”
“I think it’s really important especially with what's happening with all the silencing that's been [going on] in the Trump administration. If I was an alum I would want to be asked to come back. The alum-student relationship is very crucial to our networking, and being able to talk about law and some of the downsides of it, I know one of the panelists talked about her experience being a judge and how she has threats against her and she has to have an officer follow her around the court house, and everything that goes into that. Especially in this trying political climate, we need that connection, we need organization.”
From the alums she was “able to gain insight on what’s happening in the legal field, and if we want to reconsider, perhaps modifying our plans. A lot of them talked about taking time between law school and undergraduate to reassess what you want.”
“Imposter syndrome came up a lot, and they all reaffirmed that you’re here for a reason, you’re already one step there, and Mount Holyoke gets you that foot in the door in the legal field.”
Angelina Godinez ’28 contributed fact-checking.
Editor’s note: Abby Paull ’28 is a staff writer for Mount Holyoke News.
