Emily Towe was more than a little surprised when she found out that the Constitutional Law class she was taking in her second semester at Albany (N.Y.) School of Law used the exact same textbook used in the Constitutional Law class she took as a junior at University of the Ozarks.
"I had kept my textbook from college because I had written a lot of notes in there and I thought it would be useful to have," said Towe, a 2012 Ozarks graduate who is in her first year of law school. "I was shocked when I found out that my Constitutional Law class used the same textbook, same edition and everything. I not only didn’t have to buy a new book, but I felt pretty good about the class after that."
Towe even had a chance to impress her Albany Constitutional Law professor when he asked a question that stumped the class.
Emily Towe, a 2012 Ozarks graduate, is currently enrolled at Albany (N.Y.) School of Law.
"In the margins of the textbook in the chapter we were covering I had written ‘state’s police power,’ from my class at Ozarks," Towe said. "That was the answer to his question. He asked me, ‘How did you know that?’ I told him I had learned that in college, and he asked me where I went to college. He told me that they had obviously prepared me well for law school and to tell my professors at Ozarks that they did a good job."
Towe has discovered that Ozarks more than prepared her for the rigors of law school. She credited Ozarks Political Science Professors Gilbert Parks and Dr. Stewart Dippel for giving her the academic foundation to succeed.
"The workload that you have in political science classes at Ozarks, from the time you are a freshman all the way to your senior year, is similar to law school," Towe said. "As a freshman at Ozarks, it’s a little bit overwhelming, but by the time you’re a senior is not that big of deal. There were freshmen in law school who were completely overwhelmed with the workload that professors put on them, but for me it was just standard stuff."
Towe said her first year in law school has affirmed her decision to pursue a career in law. "I’m having fun, and it’s made me realize that this is where I’m supposed to be," she said.
Towe said that her initial goal of wanting to practice general family law has narrowed a bit.
"I’m finding that I have a real passion for special victims prosecution, such as domestic violence and child abuse," she said. "I’ve even thought about perhaps going into policy work for victims of domestic or child abuse. The good thing is that I have a couple more years to decide which direction I want to go."
One thing for certain is that Towe has a job lined up for this summer, thanks to her Ozarks experience. She will work in Washington, D.C. for the Fund for American Studies as a program advisor for the Institute for Philanthropy and Voluntary Service. It’s the same agency where she served in a summer internship between her junior and senior years at Ozarks.
"Except this time I’m going to be getting paid and I will even have a free apartment," Towe said. "Getting the internship at Ozarks two years ago opened the door for me getting this job. It’s kind of neat how all these opportunities keep coming up through Ozarks."
Topics: Political Science