The last few years have been eventful for 1L Kendyl Tolley Bench, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. In 2017, she made the decision to pursue her life-long goal of attending law school. “After ten years of marriage, I was divorced in 2017,” says the mom of four. “I realized then that I […]
Up until the day before 1L Roberto “Luis” Estrada Maldonado arrived at BYU Law, he was working as a tax and corporate lawyer for Arias Law, a leading global business law firm with offices throughout Central America. Luis, who was born and raised in Guatemala City, Guatemala, is one of two international students in the […]
“I have always been interested in human rights and trying to help people,” says 1L Tatenda Makanza. A native of Zimbabwe, Tatenda earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and peace and global studies at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. She went on to earn two master’s degrees: the first in political science from the […]
Andrew Fellows, a 1L from Stafford, Virginia, doesn’t have a typical pre-law background. After graduating with a degree in music performance from BYU, he worked as the assistant organist at the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City for two years before coming to BYU Law. Andrew became interested in the organ at 14 […]
First-year law student Alixa Brobbey has always loved reading and writing poetry. However, as an undergraduate English major at BYU, she didn’t spend much time doing those things. “I worked at BYU’s Research and Writing Center and did a lot of writing for school and work,” she says. “I didn’t spend a lot of my […]
Andrew Navarro has always been self-motivated. “Whenever I do anything, I try to go at it with all my heart,” he says. A first-generation college student, Navarro was born in Miami, Florida, to parents who immigrated to the United States from Colombia and Mexico. “Both my mother and father had to quit school by the […]
“In middle school, I had an ambitious social studies teacher who involved her students in world events,” says Ben Forsgren. “She introduced us to the genocidal activities that were occurring in Sudan. It shocked me––I had never heard of anything like that before, and I wanted to help.” Forsgren went on to establish a local […]
“Becoming comfortable with change and new experiences has been an important part of my journey,” says Tanner Schenewark. “I didn’t know what type of law I wanted to practice coming into law school. BYU Law gave me a lot of options and flexibility while I was figuring that out.” A formative influence for Schenewark was […]
“Looking back on my life, I see the seeds of desire and motivation that made law feel like the right fit for me,” says McKenna Rammell, an accomplished pianist who studied music as an undergraduate. “My original intention was to open a piano studio,” she says. However, persistent hand pain sent Rammell “back to the […]
While living in Boston, Massachusetts, Martha Wingate founded a nonprofit organization that connected families experiencing homelessness to community resources with the goal of helping them get back into housing. That’s when she first considered law school. “I realized how much the clients I was working with needed legal help,” she says. “I was constantly interacting […]