Before their schedules are overruled with rigorous coursework and challenging lectures, Regent University School of Law students give back to the Hampton Roads Community.
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| Alexander Angle, 2L, with his team at St. Mary’s Home for Disabled Children. |
In mid-August, Regent Law’s Office of Career & Alumni Services hosted the 9th Annual Community Service Day. Some 140 participants including Regent Law students, faculty, deans, staff, alumni, and members of the James Kent Inn of Court and their families tackled tasks at Union Mission, the Southeast Virginia Foodbank, St. Mary’s Home for Disabled Children and the Bridge Christian Fellowship Church.
Each year the effort is encouraged by Regent Law to remind students that law, in the name of Christ, is about having a servant’s heart: putting others first in a career teeming with a countering reputation.
Ashna Desai, 2L, spent her time volunteering at the Union Mission. Her team unpacked donated winter clothes and prepared them for sale or distribution by the organization. Desai said that the day of volunteering in the community actively demonstrates Regent’s focus on preparing students not only for the work force, but to live a Christ-like life.
“It reminds [us] that a world exists outside of law school,” said Desai. “Law school can be so busy and a struggle that students may forget why they’re doing what they’re doing and who they’re doing it for.”
This was 2L student Madeline Jones’ second time participating in the community service effort. She spent her day volunteering at the Foodbank; together she and her team assembled boxes full of food supplies for families in the area. Through the location’s effort, Jones estimated 1,000 families would receive boxes full of various food items as a result of their efforts.
Additionally, Jones said that the time spent together with others in the law school gave her the opportunity to get to know new students and offer herself as an asset to incoming 1L students.
“It brings the different class levels together more. When you come in as a 1L, you’re all in the same classes,” said Jones. “Your best friends are the people sitting next to you because that’s who you’re with.”
Alexander Angle, 2L, spent his time serving at St. Mary’s Home for Disabled Children, where his group assisted the staff with various tasks including reorganizing items in an arts and crafts room, storing movies, books and games, cleaning windows and life preservers for the location’s pool.
“I think serving together before school starts is important for law students because it reminds us that, even in such a serious and tough profession, God’s purpose in our lives is to serve and love others first,” said Angle.
For him, the day of service was a first-hand representation of how Regent Law cares for its students by preparing them for the field of law on a holistic, spirit-led level, rather than focusing solely on their academic progress.
“The school is more than just an institution that shuttles people through a purely academic process; these sorts of activities encourage us and renew us as Christians,” said Angle. “And I think that’s important.”