During Fall 2024, I was overjoyed when I was given the opportunity to explore the Legal Diversity and Equity Program. This was a speaker series that was a collection of service, dialogue, and law-focused lectures. This experience transformed my view on public service and how it ties to my own empathy and action.
Whilst attending speaker sessions, students were tasked with completing volunteer hours in the community. I decided to work in a local food kitchen to get a direct window into the realities of underrepresented communities in Athens. Many of the individuals I met faced challenges such as food insecurity, homelessness, and mental health struggles – policies that we discussed both in lectures and in my SPIA classes. Getting to hear personal experiences made my time in both lectures and serving much more meaningful as I was able to connect real-world people to policy.
The second lecture, presented by Alexander Scherr from the UGA School of Law, explored mental health and law. One moment during my volunteering in food kitchens that resonated with this topic occurred when interacting with individuals experiencing homelessness and mental health challenges. The lecture emphasized the critical intersection of mental health and legal rights, which informed my approach to listening empathetically and directing individuals to local resources. This strengthened the resolve for recognizing dignity and protection accorded by the law to all, especially those facing compound challenges. The third lecture, by Steffney Thompson, was on conservation law and how it relates to community health. As a volunteer, I have seen firsthand how access to clean water and healthy food can affect populations in poverty. This lecture broadened my perspective, showing how legal frameworks can address these disparities, while highlighting the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to equity.
SPIA continues to show me how policy and administration must remain in human-centered fields. This speaker series puts an emphasis on how law and service are meant to promote equity as well. It is so important that SPIA students take these skills of cultural humility and advocacy into their future careers because only then can real change begin.
Anabella van Kempen
B.A. Philosophy; B.A. Political Science; B.A. Sociology | Pre-Law Track
University of Georgia | Class of 2027
