MAWL Foundation Presents Scholarship Awards at Annual Banquet

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MAWL Foundation Presents Scholarship Awards at Annual Banquet

On Thursday June 10, 2004, the Massachusetts Association of Women Lawyers hosted its Annual Banquet at the Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge, Massachusetts. That evening, Maria Luise , the Honorable Mary B. Muse (ret.), and Barbara M. Senecal , of the MAWL Scholarship Foundation presented two promising young law students, Katharine Milton and Kelly Gardner, with scholarships.

Katharine Milton was the recipient of the Honorable Sheila E. McGovern Fund Scholarship. Barbara Senecal described Ms. Milton's many accomplishments. Ms. Milton just finished her first year at Suffolk Law School. She received her undergraduate degree from Providence College cum laude in humanities and Spanish. She also received the Presidential Academic Scholarship. Katharine spent her junior year abroad in Spain. While at Providence College she volunteered at the International Institute of Rhode Island to translate documents from Spanish to English for immigration cases.

After graduation, Katharine made a year long commitment to the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Los Angeles, California. During that year she worked with urban youngsters ages 16-18 at a juvenile detention center. She also served as a paralegal for immigrants seeking citizenship and immigrant victims of domestic violence.

Katharine then returned to the East Coast and worked for Concillo Hispano in Cambridge as coordinator of legal services. She later worked at Action for Boston Community Development as a housing specialist and advocate for homeless and at-risk populations.

Katharine has stated that she was struck by how the lack of knowledge and understanding of the legal system can keep homeless, unemployed and mentally ill persons, as well as abused women and children, impoverished.

Ms. Milton's passion for social justice led her to Suffolk Law School. During her first year she has volunteered at both Shelter Legal Services and Suffolk Public Interest Law Group. She feels that one of the most valuable lessons she has learned is that her passion can indeed be the basis of one's professional life.

According to Barbara Senecal , public interest work has become a fundamental part of how Ms. Milton sees herself in the world and her commitment grows with each experience. Attorney Senecal then applauded Katharine Milton's commitment to the underserved. The Honorable Mary Muse then presented Ms. Milton with the Honorable Sheila E. McGovern Fund Scholarship.

Kelly Gardner was this year's recipient of the Massachusetts Association of Women Lawyers' General Scholarship. She will graduate from Harvard Law School in 2006. Attorney Senecal described this young woman's many accomplishments. Ms. Gardner received a B.A. with honors from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. She was on the Dean's list, a member of Golden Key International Honor Society and took advantage of many opportunities to engage in social justice work. She served as co-coordinator for a dialogue group entitled “Black Women/Jewish Women” that worked to promote cross-racial communication and understanding. She led this group to New York City to engage in public service projects including conducting literacy workshops for students in a Harlem elementary school and assisting a battered women's shelter. She next co-founded an after school program called “Out of the Blue” designed to use non-traditional tools, particularly art and theatre, to improve literacy among students in an elementary school in danger of losing its accreditation.

Following graduation, Kelly continued to pursue her interest in public service and social justice in the highly competitive Coro Fellows Program in public affairs. She coordinated an outreach program for and evaluated the effectiveness of “Operation Weed and Seed”, a community-based crime prevention program operated by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Missouri. She also worked with the St. Louis Rams and its literacy partners in an effort to integrate the development of a literacy center into current urban renewal plans. She has also found time to be conversant in Spanish.

Barbara Senecal told the audience that after Ms. Gardner's first year at Harvard law school Kelly has remained interested in a legal career in public service. Indeed this summer Kelly is working under a Skadden 1L Fellowship at a legal services organization in New York City called Sanctuary for Families, which serves victims of domestic violence. She traveled from New York City to accept the award at the Banquet.

Attorney Senecal described how Ms. Gardner had overcome many obstacles in her life to get to where she is today. She is a person of color from a single parent household; her father died when she was six years old. Kelly credited her mother for willingly making many personal and financial sacrifices to ensure that she and her sister benefited from every educational opportunity available to them. Attorney Senecal declared that MAWL was confident that Kellly would use her professional and personal skills to help change the bleak statistical forecasts she spoke of to ones of success and achievement for young people of all backgrounds.

The Massachusetts Association of Women Lawyers was very proud to have continued the tradition of providing these two scholarships at its Annual Banquet.