Tonya Verhaal, Class of 2024
After teaching high school English in Northern Utah, Tonya Verhaal knew she could make a greater impact on the community by becoming a child advocate.
“Those years really opened my eyes to the needs of kids and the ways in which I was just part of a larger flawed system,” Verhaal said.
Wanting to be a part of the solution, she traveled to Louisiana to study public interest at LSU Law.
“The clearest path to being a child advocate is somewhere in the public interest realm,” Verhaal explained. “This will still allow me to work with kids in a positive way while also creating change in the larger system.”
As a third-year law student, she is paving the way to her future career in advocacy with her internship at the ACLU of Louisiana this summer.
“I have my hands in a variety of projects right now that directly impact the work being done with some of the most vulnerable populations in our community,” Verhaal said of her work, which includes researching, developing internal protocol, and conducting community outreach.
The ACLU of Louisiana works to advance and preserve constitutional rights and liberties of individuals and extend the rights of individuals who have traditionally been denied their rights.
Verhaal was able to pursue an internship that aligns with her passions because of her fellowship with the Public Interest Law Society. Otherwise, she says she would have had to take a paid, traditional summer internship in an area she was not interested in to make ends meet.
“Without this fellowship, I would not have been able to have the impactful summer experience I am currently a part of.”
