Hello hello hello!

My name is Hannah and I have freshly finished 1L. Like all the upper years, faculty, admissions folks, and everyone else, I (of course) want to welcome you all to Allard. But since this is a student perspective piece, I thought I would give you a little bit of my perspective. Keep that in mind, however, that this is just that—my perspective. The wonderful part about this Orientation blog is that it is not a ploy to have you subscribe to any particular perspective, but rather is an opportunity to show you a diverse variety. So, here is mine.

Around this time a year ago, I made myself a promise.

My 0L summer was emotionally exhausting and I was once again reminded of how beautiful but short life truly is. So, I decided to enter into a little contract with myself: I was going to face my three years of law school as if they were the three last years I had. Sounds morbid—but it’s not—keep reading!

I wanted these three years to mean something more than a piece of paper and a resume upgrade. I could not bear the thought of depriving myself of everything but the inside of the library for three years—and for what? I told myself, in the cheeriest possible way, that I was going to do law school as if I were to drop dead on graduation. Again, keep reading!

It simply meant that I was determined to do more than survive the stress and to be more than excellent in school.

I think as much as I like to tell myself that “once I achieve that, I’ll rest” or “once I secure that position, I’ll stop my feverish striving”, I know that it’s not true. There’s always something more to achieve, another reading to check off the list, another bit of my resume to polish, another rung on the ladder to climb.

And while those things matter—I’m not trying to say they don’t—they aren’t everything. Because there are mountains to scale, stairs to run, chocolate to eat, friends to laugh with, memes to send, family to call, dogs to cuddle and people to love.

Law school is amazing, folks. It really is. But I would encourage you all to find contentment and meaning not just in the legal education and legal system but also in the moments and memories of life that give that education and system colour. The passions and interests you pursue are those things with which you cloak yourselves and the things which will infuse a contagion of vibrancy into your time at Allard.

Come to Allard and study law. But also come and become a better human. Find the things that ignite your passion, the things that make you angry, the things that make you cry.  The choices you make, the friends you choose, the clubs you do or do not join, the extracurriculars you do or do not do, the amount of time you do or do not devote to studying—those are the things that help shape your story, as they have done mine. Try things—or don’t. Whatever you do (or do not do) let your motives be life-giving.

Until September! E N J O Y your summer.