Student Leads SBA to National Recognition

When Michele Castillo decided to seek election as a first-year representative on her law school’s student bar association, she had no idea what would follow.

"I joined simply because I wanted to become involved in school activities and meet lots of people," Castillo says. Little did she know that less than three years later, she would lead Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego to national recognition for both her school and her own inspirational leadership.

As the ABA Law Student Division’s choice for SBA president of the year for 1998-99, there is no better measure of Castillo’s success than the body she led. With its consistent dedication to protecting law student interests and promoting community service, the Thomas Jefferson School of Law SBA received the Division’s SBA of the Year Award for 1998-99. (See page 48.)

Castillo realized shortly after joining the SBA that her school had tremendous potential. "At the time, that particular SBA was very conducive toward socializing .… I became a social butterfly and had a great time that year," she says. But she knew her school and fellow students could do more. So, in her second year, Castillo successfully ran for SBA vice president.

Even as she served in that challenging executive position, Castillo actively participated in other law student organizations near to her heart. During her second year of school, she served as president of Thomas Jefferson’s La Raza Law Students Association, a Hispanic student organization affiliated with La Raza Lawyers Association and the San Diego County Bar Association. She worked closely with Hispanic groups in San Diego County through the Latin Indigenous People’s Coalition/Community Outreach and often spoke with young Latina women to encourage them to pursue higher education.

Meanwhile, Castillo finally had the opportunity to implement her ideas for Thomas Jefferson when she was elected SBA president for her third year. "My vision for the SBA was to have it be a student government that would indeed make a difference and advocate on behalf of its students by being active in the legal community and making an impression throughout the nation," she says.

Castillo, her SBA board, and other students worked as a team to promote a more positive image of the legal profession. They spent hundreds of hours performing public interest work, like a curbside stenciling project that exhorted residents to maintain their community with the message "I Love a Clean San Diego!" Students also cleaned a local beach, worked at the Special Olympics, and held a Halloween party/food drive, among other events. Castillo even donned a rabbit costume and played the Easter Bunny at an event for a local nonprofit organization assisting families and children with HIV.

Even as she implemented her new program at Thomas Jefferson, Castillo looked beyond her school’s walls and served as the LSD’s 9th Circuit lieutenant governor for women in law. With a B.A. in women’s studies and history from UCLA in 1994, she was the right woman for the job. The only lieutenant governor for women in law in the entire country, Castillo worked to promote women’s rights law in law schools, encourage professors to teach courses relevant to women’s rights law, and attract women to the legal profession.

Having graduated in May, Castillo now plans to enter the emerging field of women’s rights law, which she describes as "a combination of employment discrimination, sexual harassment, violence against women, international human rights, and other issues involving the legal status of women."

A longer-range goal for Castillo is elected politics. "Ideally, being the president of the U.S. sounds good, or maybe a senator!" she says. "We shall see!" •

 

Kim Vu

Kim Vu is a fourth-year part-time student at Western State College of Law and the 9th Circuit lieutenant governor for alumni relations.