My Story:

Over the summer, I participated in a “Pre-College Summer Immersion” program with Columbia University studying Constitutional Law. I’ve always been fascinated with the inner workings of the American government, especially the Supreme Court. I don’t see them talked about as often as members of the Executive and Legislative branches, except when they make a landmark decision. The Columbia course built substantially on my LREI Constitutional Law class; we dove very deeply into the legal history of checks and balances, the First Amendment, and civil rights. All three of these topics constantly come up in the news, and I think all/most Americans can benefit from the legal analysis methods we utilized and the cases that we dove into.

This being said, I’m not so sure that the Columbia program is the most accessible way of providing this type of education. For one, the course is definitely suited to certain high school students (as seen by the page of academic information I had to disclose about myself in order to apply). But there are so many more people, both young and old, that can use legal analysis to try to make sense of our crazy political news cycle.

Furthermore, the four-digit price tag of the program keeps it out of reach for many Americans. Reading dozens of Supreme Court cases made me realize that law has real implications for real people, especially those in low-income/marginalized communities. However, the cost of the program might make it a non-starter for many people who would significantly benefit from learning the history of how the American legal system has affected/currently affects them.

Taking the course with Columbia helped me realize how empowering it can be to know the laws that affect us, and I want to do something that help put that information in as many people’s hands as possible.

My Strengths:

PurposeMatch told me that my four biggest strengths are “analysis, perseverance, learning, and trustworthiness.” I identifying learning as my strongest strength as it is the thing that drove me to seek out the Columbia Constitutional Law course in the first place. I want learning to be the guiding principle for my project (as hokey as that sounds). I want to learn some new things about how the law affects current events, but I also want to pass on that knowledge and drive to learn to other people. I know that it’s far too much to expect for the people I teach to gain the same level interest for the law that I have, but I hope to inspire someone to think a bit differently about the law in our political discourse.

Furthermore, I think my “trustworthiness” trait lends well towards teaching (which PurposeMatch’s list of possible purpose streams). My favorite teachers have always been the ones that I most trust to present information fairly and make me challenge my biases. A trustworthy teacher has often been the factor that has made me want to continue my learning process, whether in constitutional law or other things, such as music. I hope the trustworthiness I exhibit in my personal relationships can extend to this project.

My Purpose:

Purpose Statement: “My purpose is to provide the most number of people with reliable information so that they can evaluate their biases and deconstruct their personal and political barriers.”

I would like to do some sort of teaching project based on the laws and legal doctrines related to current events. I am unsure if this will manifest in some sort of book/manual/online resource for learning the civics/law or in an actual class that I will teach in a live format. Perhaps I can do both – make several manuals for different aspects of current events/law and use them as resources to teach a class.

I know I want to go beyond the basics of the three branches, the first ten amendments, and the preamble. These things are obviously essential to understanding civics, but they are also widely taught, and I don’t want to want to be reiterative. The project I want to design is not really a beginner’s introduction to American government, but rather a guide to making sense of the news through a civics/law perspective.

There are some things that I would like people to assist me in clarifying. I am unsure of what audience I want to target. As previously stated, I believe that everyone can benefit from understanding civics. I don’t think I want to teach really young kids, as they will probably not be filled in on current events or ready to understand the law. I think adults, especially history teachers, can provide some guidance on who I should be targeting. They can also give some insight on effective teaching methods; though I’ve had experience doing one-on-one tutoring and leading high school class discussions, I’ve never fully lead a class of my own design.