Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Learning in the Present and Planning for the Future

When I first stepped foot in Washington, DC I was convinced I would be taking the LSAT and applying to law school in the fall. I thought having a knowledge of the law would help me be the best public servant I could be.  Today I have a completely different plan for my future and I can thank the Federal Judicial Center for that, but more specifically my homies on the Pretrial and Probation Services team.

A little background on the FJC for you. The Center was founded as an independent agency within the judiciary by Congress in 1967 to promote improvements in judicial administrations throughout the courts.  The FJC is the research and education agency for the entire federal court system.  And I get to work here. More specifically, I get to work with some of the most passionate and intelligent individuals I have ever met.

Most of the employees in the agency have decades of experience within the criminal justice system.  They have seen it all.  Being able to interact with them, talk to them about their experiences, and help them execute the educational programs they conceive has truly been an eye-opening experience.

About 8 weeks ago, I thought I was going to be one of the many lawyers that wanted to work in public policy after law school.  Today, I want work in the more nitty gritty side of criminal justice, probation.  I want to be a person that has a direct impact on the people this system seems to punish and forget about. 

I have the FJC and my P&P team to thank for helping me find what I am truly passionate about.  The work I do at the FJC has taught me an immense amount of information about how our criminal justice system can be improved.  Along with the people here, I want to have a hand in those improvements, even if it is minuscule in the grand scheme.

Taking advantage of the knowledge and people around you during your time in WAIP is the most important part of the program.  Yes, you need to show up to study tours and write your policy paper but, at the end of the day, my policy paper didn’t get me and informational interview with a Chief Magistrate Judge from the Southern District of Iowa.  My work at the FJC did that and my willingness to be a “yes” intern and help everyone and anyone in my office led me to that opportunity.

So today, as I continue to learn all I can from the people I am surrounded by at the FJC, I am planning a much different future than I thought I would be.  Whether it’s a job in a U.S. Probation Office or graduate school for criminal justice, I know that after graduation the opportunities I have had through WAIP will remain at the forefront of my motivation.  I would say that I am one of the lucky ones in my cohort; one of the ones who found something more than they thought they would, but that would be doing my cohort, and WAIP as whole, a disservice.  WAIP is a program that introduces public service minded students to what real public service is and because of that I can definitively say, all 29 of us are the lucky ones.


--Margaret Gearhart

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