When I was a child I wanted to be a school teacher, the president, an astronaut, a doctor, and even a princess. I can’t remember a time in my childhood when I ever said that I wanted to be a lawyer. To me law seemed boring and uninteresting. I thought that only people, who did bad things, needed a lawyer. So to my perspective, a lawyer defended someone bad, therefore they were bad. But that was not true; there are many people out there that need a lawyer to prove that they are not bad, that they didn’t break the law, or that what they did was a mistake. There is much more to law than television and articles make it out to be. Well, to study law never even crossed my mind until a year ago. I was a junior in Westmont High School and decided to enroll on the Central County Occupational Center (CCOC). CCOC is a program made to educate eligible high school and adult students for success in the careers and college in a professional, hands-on environment. CCOC offers courses within thirteen industry sectors, and out of all of them I chose Forensics for my second semester. I am not going to lie, forensics didn’t interest me as much, so not only did I join forensics to learn a bit about it, but I mainly joined it because my friend was in that class. Only if I had known that that decision would change my view of my career path. I began to enjoy learning about forensics, and forensics being in the law department, they introduced the class and I to a program that was just beginning called Peer Court. They explained that Peer Court was established so that juvenile offenders that committed minor offenses or misdemeanors could be prosecuted by their peers. I thought it would be fun and interesting to join it and see where that took me; I mean it did not hurt to try right? In Peer Court I learned a lot, I thought that we would be prosecuting and defending misbehaved teens. But I was proved otherwise, most teen fall under peer pressure so easily or are bullied into committing acts that they regret very deeply. Other teens were just at the wrong place, at the wrong time. Soon, I became part of the Santa Clara County Juvenile Probation Department’s Peer Court Program, physically and mentally. I spent most of my times in the jury, but I became a prosecutor twice, defense twice, and bailiff once. I learned and understood that we were not there to punish the offender; we were there to create restitution. We would help the offender reintegrate themselves into a community that would trust them again. At that moment, I wanted to peruse a law career and bring justice. To defend those who were misunderstood or wronged. Peer Court became part of my routine. In peer court I met new students that became my friends. It has now been a year since it all began. We had our ceremony on November 27, 2012. And alongside other students that have dedicated their time to Peer Court, I received a County of Santa Clara, California Certificate of Commendation. We were recognized by Dave Cortese, County of Santa Clara Supervisor-Third District. Than it all became real. I hope to pursue a career in law, and if I don’t I am happy for being given the opportunity to experience something like Peer Court. To seek justice will be one of my goals.
“I am not the law, but I represent justice so far as my feeble powers go.”
-Arthur Conan Doyle