Christian Pridgen

Personal Statement- SUNY Buffalo Law School PLUS Program

When I entered the 8
th
grade I began to seriously think about career choices. At
age 14, I was a very abstract and unpredictable person. I have always been the type of
person to try something new. In middle school I played every sport, from cheerleading to
basketball to softball, also I was a part of every academic and extracurricular activity
possible. Entering the next stage of my life I felt that it was appropriate for me to begin to
get serious and concentrate on two particular aspects of my life, which were my
education and my occupational future. After researching various occupations of my
interest I came to the conclusion that I wanted to become a lawyer or a social worker.
My interest in law was heightened in high school when I participated in job
shadowing several times. My first job shadowing took me to the Department of Social
Services as I shadowed a social worker. I did not enjoy my experience. Social work was
nothing that I expected. I identified social work with visitations, not a nine to five of
paper work. Since I was no longer interested in social work the next year, my junior year,
I chose a popular local personal injury law firm. This was also a bad experience. I did not
get the full experience of what it would be like to be a lawyer. While I was visiting the
office the administrative lawyer was out of town for the day, therefore I did not get to
interact with him. Most of my time was spent with the paralegal, who shared her many
experiences. One experience relating to a lawyer that the paralegal shared was that of a
murder case which inspired me to begin researching what type of law I would like to
practice. During my visit I set in a conference room listening to many more stories about
what it was like to be a paralegal. This visitation helped me come to the conclusion that I
did not want to be a paralegal, and I definitely wanted to be a lawyer. My final job
shadow experience during my senior year fulfilled every expectation that the others did
not meet in the previous year. This time I shadowed a family friend who has his own
independent law firm. While shadowing I was finally about to get the full experience of
what it would be like to be a lawyer. Our day started off in the office doing paper work, a
little research, and consultations. We then traveled downtown to the courthouse and did a
screening before we went into the courtroom to defend a case. After our case we then
went into a near by courtroom and observed a few cases. Upon the conclusion of court I
was introduced to several lawyers who practice various fields of law. I was able to hear
about many of their personal experiences from their practices, which lead me to further
research different fields of law. Through my research I realized that I would like to
practice family and juvenile law.
At a very young age I was exposed to the struggles and the effects of a broken
household. I took interest in this subject because it affected a great number of my close
friends and family members. Throughout my childhood I have always been the one
person out of my friends living in a household with both parents. My father is a pastor;
his occupation is partly responsible for my interest. As a child I shared everything with
my church family, most importantly I shared my father. I have witnessed my friends
experiencing their family difficulties. I couldnt imagine being in their situations, a
broken home, fatherless, motherless, or being raised in foster care. When I was in
elementary school my uncle and my aunt got a divorce. This broke my cousins heart, he
would cry for his mother, as his father would try to comfort him. My cousin who is one
year younger than me could not understand why he had to choose between his mother
and his father. This subject and these experiences led me to my academic interest. I am
Christian Pridgen
currently majoring in sociology. By majoring in sociology I am hoping to gain a better
understanding of the interactions between people. I also plan to add minors in political
science along with urban youth and communities.
I am from an urban community where domestic problems and juvenile
delinquency are abundant. I have been too many of my peers funerals, many of
them dying at the hands of gang violence. One of my main objectives is to obtain the
knowledge over my college and professional careers that will provide explanations
and allow for possible solutions to problems such as juvenile delinquency and
domestic violence. My goal is to attend law school for every reason that I have
stated above. I desire to make a change as a lawyer. I want to help young people
and elderly people who are in the mist of situations that are beyond their control.
Participation in the DiscoverLaw.org PLUS program will motivate me, by serving
as preparation for law school and giving me an idea of what law school would be like.
This program will inspire me to continue to improving and doing well in school, to get
even more involved, to take charge and action toward my future. The PLUS program
will also help me through networking. I will have the opportunity to interact with law
school professors and begin to become accustom to their standards and expectations. I
will also have the opportunity to network with others who were once in my position and
are now where I aspire to be some day. Additionally I will have the opportunity to bond
and get to know others who are also college students and who hope to attend law school
and become lawyers as I do.