Shareese Pryor '08
It all began with the junior colloquium she took for her major in political science. That colloquium focused on justice and the family, and Shareese Pryor wrote her research paper on the foster-care system—a system she found to be punitive rather than protective or preventive, and in critical need of reform. Now Shareese is headed for the University of Chicago Law School, and she foresees a future as an advocate for children's rights and an attorney practicing family law.
"In my research paper, I wrote that the system seeks to punish parents whom the state deems unable to take care of their children instead of proactively giving parents access to the resources they and their children need," Shareese says. "In neglect cases parents often have their children taken away, not because the parents have intentionally harmed them, but because the family is poor, family members have health problems, and they can't afford proper care. Once the children are taken away, social services are taken away, leaving parents without any access to those resources."
The solution she proposes is straightforward: "The state should provide a safety net for parents."
This spring, as Shareese completed her Barnard studies, she also received an internship grant from Barnard's Career Development Office to spend the semester working for alumna Justice Rosalyn Richter '76 of the New York State Supreme Court. Her duties included reviewing uncontested divorces and performing administrative tasks on matrimonial and guardianship cases.
It's an experience she praises as "especially interesting, because I got to sit in on court a lot, and because Judge Richter and the court attorney explained what was going on in each of the cases and helped me understand the underlying law."
Shareese will continue working on issues of family law this summer, as a 2008 Arthur Liman Public Interest Law Undergraduate Summer Fellow. She attended the Liman program's annual spring colloquium at Yale Law School, and after Barnard graduation, funded by a Liman grant, she will intern at the Juvenile Protective Association in Chicago. There she will help provide intervention and treatment for families and children in abuse and neglect cases.
Shareese is from Aurora, Illinois; her summer internship and subsequent law school studies will be pursued in her home state. But during her time at Barnard, in addition to taking full advantage of New York, she traveled, worked and studied far and wide. She spent her entire junior year abroad—in the fall in Argentina, China and India as a member of an international honors program in urban planning and sustainable development; and in the spring at the School for International Training in Cape Town, South Africa, studying the post-apartheid transformation of that country's standards of national citizenship and race relations. Later, for the independent-study project she completed as one of Barnard's distinguished Centennial Scholars, she wrote in depth about the personal, life-changing aspects of her experiences abroad.
In New York during her sophomore year, she also ventured beyond Barnard's campus gates to enhance and supplement her classroom education. She interned with the Urban League, trying to raise funds from business and government for the organization's education and community-development programs.
"It was very difficult to schedule meetings and get people to talk to us," Shareese recalls. "And often after a meeting, nothing would come of it. It was very discouraging."
It's hard to imagine this earnest and resourceful young woman being discouraged in even the most daunting circumstances. Her ideals and commitment were evident from the start of her undergraduate career, when she participated in First Year Reach-Out under Barnard's New York City Civic Engagement Program and chose to work with the homeless and organizations representing their interests.
While Shareese worries that law-school costs and student-loan debt may prevent her from working in the public or non-profit sector after earning a J.D., she says she will "definitely continue doing community service and advocating for children's rights." She adds, "I've been given a lot of opportunities, and I've learned so much at Barnard. It would be wrong not to give back."
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