Alumna Sets a High Bar

Briana GivensAfter Briana Givens graduated from Palm Springs High School in 2010, she and her best friend decided to get out of the desert and into the city, and moved to Norwalk to attend Cerritos College.

Briana always knew that she wanted to be a lawyer, but did not get serious about that dream until she attended Cerritos College. For a while, her dreams of becoming a lawyer didn’t seem very attainable because she thought she missed her chance to attend a university.

“Boy was I wrong! All it took was a few wonderful professors and faculty members that believed in me – Professor Sunday Obazuaye, Coach Kodee Murray, Brian Cable and the rest of the Athletic department.” She recalls sitting in Professor Obazuaye’s political science class one day when he took a few minutes to discuss following our dreams.

“Looking back at my time at Cerritos, I would not have done anything differently. The two years I spent at Cerritos College changed my life forever and I will forever be thankful for the quality of professors and faculty members that work endless hours to encourage students to reach their goals and then surpass them.”

Briana transferred to the University of California, Riverside in 2012 and graduated in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in political science/ law & society. She’s now a Juris Doctor candidate at Thomas Jefferson School of Law. Briana and her colleagues have made history with their recent appointments to the Thomas Jefferson Law Review editorial board, making them the first all African-American women managing board for a law review in California. Briana serves as the Executive Editor.  

Briana hopes to work in the health law field as an in-house counsel at a hospital and wants to give back to the youth and encourage them to follow their dreams. She has interned at two law firms in San Diego and is working on obtaining a highly-coveted judicial clerkship in spring 2017.

 

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