Is it okay to turn a blog into a free writing catalog? I actually do not care what the rhetorical answer is because I am going to make it so.

Dear Committee

Thank you for presenting today during the lunch hour about admissions at UW. I am writing because when we were speaking, I felt that there was some tension. I just wanted to clarify my perspective.
As a first generation college student that was able to attend Stanford on through a targeted program, I have thought a lot about inclusion in institutions of higher learning. I am white, but I was also in foster care and my siblings are incarcerated.  I did not think that I was going to attend to law school, because I did not have any reverence for the law. I decided to come to law school the summer before my senior year of college when I advocated for change in the U.S. child welfare system. When I applied, I was not supported through the process and I did not study for the LSAT at all. I think many students that come from diverse backgrounds my struggle to find the time that it takes to prepare for law school admission. Not all people of color come from certain socio-economic backgrounds, but if we look at the spread of wealth in the U.S. it is undeniable that we may need to address issues surrounding poverty and inequality when looking to broaden UW Law's diversity in the classroom. (Especially if UW wants to be a leader in public service law, as well as a leader to finding new ways to engage disparately affected demographics of people in the legal profession).

Before I came to UW Law, I chose to take a gap year to work as a policy coordinator. I worked on issues affecting current and former foster youth. The majority of the youth that I worked with were transition aged (18-24) youth of color. When they came to the Capitol to give testimony they exhibited an initial resistance to government structures and a strong distaste for the police. If I talked to them about their future, many of the youth said that they would never be able to attend law school.

If we are serious about making UW a more diverse place we need to address support issues in recruitment and retention. We need to reach out to communities to see what they want to learn about the law and perhaps tailor visitation days to teaching around that goal and exposing youth to the legal profession.