Testimonial: Demaris B.

Legal Eagle Scholar

"During the spring of my junior year of high school, I met with my school’s college counselor to chat with her about my plans for higher education. She asked me what I wanted to do career-wise, and I told her about my desire to study law. It was here that she introduced me to Journey 2 Justice (J2J), a law pipeline program she said was created by a friend of hers, Attorney Reine Boyer. After several months of being a part of J2J, I can confidently say that Journey 2 Justice is a program that is truly like no other.

My first week with J2J was both an intensive and transformative educational experience. I, along with other scholars from across a wide range of backgrounds and grade levels, spent most of our days at the University of Bridgeport, preparing ourselves for a criminal mock trial that would be taking place at the Superior Court house. The upperclassmen (high schoolers and college students) acted as mentors for the middle school scholars, who would be showcasing the legal skills and information that they learned throughout the week. Though our time together was short, J2J not only gave me the amazing opportunity to prepare myself for a life as a lawyer and debater, but also gave me the rare opportunity of helping to forge a long-lasting community with a completely new group of peers. After that week, I participated in an internship with both the Bridgeport juvenile public defender and the state attorney’s office, two experiences that I’ll never forget because of the things that I learned and the amazing people that I got to be a part of it with."