“What I love about this country is the diversity you find here. I say, ‘In Argentina you only have Argentineans’. Anywhere you go here, there are people from different communities and cultures. The school truly embraces that, you see such respect for it, and it’s a very important thing that I think sometimes people take for granted.”
–Maria “Maru” De Martini
Maria De Martini had always dreamt of studying law in the United States. So when she left her native Argentina and arrived in the U.S. at the age of 23, she came with a sense of purpose. “I feel like working toward a solution to problems in our world is my goal – like problems I’ve seen in my country,” she said.
Though she received several competitive offers from other universities throughout the country, she wanted to find a place she could comfortably call home for three years. It turns out her decision was an easy one: the school’s service orientation and public interest program coupled with its appreciation for diversity is an ideal fit.
This summer, Maria is using a Valparaiso School of Law International Public Interest Stipend to participate in the United Nations assistance to the Khmer Rouge in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
She compliments Valparaiso’s staff and programs with encouraging and facilitating numerous opportunities for the community involvement that she considers a valuable part of her educational experience. For example, the school recently coordinated a “Day of Caring” during which she and fellow students visited a women’s shelter to help with gardening work. The school also dedicates resources to fund students who serve at non-profit organizations, as many of them cannot afford to pay students for their work. Last summer, Maria interned as a law clerk with the Council for American-Islamic Relations – the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization. While there she worked under the supervision of an attorney on discrimination cases, conducting interviews of possible clients, doing legal research and writing, and assisting attorneys at every point in the judicial process.
During the academic year, Maria has also acted as an assistant in the legal research program and participated in the Valparaiso University School of Law Honors Program. She has been a student member of both the Illinois and New York State Bar Associations, worked as a staff writer for the law school newspaper, and been an online volunteer team member for the United Nations. Maria considers the opportunities Valparaiso University School of Law has offered her to be key to her preparation for legal work in the public sector.
