GC junior selected for nationally competitive law program

Krysttal Ortega, a rising junior criminal justice and restorative justice major at Goshen College, will participate in the prestigious Roadmap Scholars Initiative at the University of Virginia this summer.

The goal of Roadmap Scholars, a three-week summer prep program for undergraduates with a pre-law focus, is to “expose participants to the law, law school and the legal profession, and to help them become competitive applicants to any of the nation’s top law schools.” It accepts roughly a dozen students every year from across the country.

Despite being on campus for just a three-week course, Ortega will work with the Roadmap Scholars for the next year and beyond. This summer, she will learn about the field of law through conversations, visits, courses and more, along with building her personal roadmap to law school. During her junior year, she will have the opportunity to be remotely mentored by students and alumni from the UVA Law program and receive a stipend for LSAT prep work.

The following summer, after spending another week in Charlottesville at an “application boot camp,” preparing her to apply for law school, she will have the opportunity to be placed in a legal internship in the private, public or nonprofit sector, while also receiving funds for travel, housing and stipends.

Ortega, who will head to Charlottesville at the end of May, said she is thrilled with the opportunity for a number of reasons.

“I was so happy to hear that I got in,” Ortega said. “When I first read about it, I knew I needed to take advantage of this opportunity and use it to my fullest advantage. I don’t come from a family of lawyers, so if I have an opportunity to build connections, then I should take it.”

Ortega, a first-generation college student, has a sister at Goshen College and two more siblings attending in the fall. She recently interned at Merino Law Firm in downtown Goshen, and applied to the program at the encouragement of her professor and adviser, Robert Brenneman.

“Rob told me,” she said, “that this was something I needed to practice applying for, to get in the habit of reaching for these things. He said, ‘You won’t get a yes every time,’ and that he had been rejected many times as well. And that helped me realize: the worst they can say is no.”

After she applied earlier in the year, she sat for an interview in March, before being accepted in the first week of April. Now, after Ortega returned from a May Term in Puerto Rico last Wednesday, she had a week to prepare before heading to Charlottesville on Thursday.

“I’m excited about the independence,” she said. “I’ll fly to Charlottesville on my own and will stay at their house [with other scholars] … I’m a commuter, so I’ve never really experienced that. It’ll give me a sense of what it’s like to be on your own — and then staying with other students.”

But, she said, she’s not the only one excited about the opportunity.

“My parents are both immigrants,” she said, “and they’ve never gotten the education that my sister and I are getting. They’re very supportive, and in a way they’re living through me — if I’m excited, they’re 10 times more excited!”

She continued, “It’s really meaningful to have these experiences and connections that Goshen provides, and to have people help you understand all the options you have. You don’t have to do it on your own.”