What is your job/position?
I’m serving as a judicial law clerk for a year after graduating from law school. My job is to research, write, and serve as a confidential legal advisor for the Court.
Describe the path that took you from your American Studies degree to your current career or life situation.
I knew I wanted to study law as an undergraduate, but I wasn’t able to get into the program at first. I worked in the legal field for almost a year before returning for a master's degree and improving my writing and resume. I ended up liking teaching and worked doing so until my wife finished her master's degree. By then, I got accepted into law school. I persisted despite disappointment, and my career has unfolded in unconventional yet beautiful ways.
What are the specific competencies you cultivated as an American Studies student that you now use in your professional life and that set you apart from your colleagues?
Relating to others from different backgrounds. Reading closely and writing incisively. Loving the breadth of the human experience and the arts.
What are some of the surprising ways in which your American Studies degree has helped you in your professional or personal life?
I loved history as an undergraduate. I feel like that interest is a gateway to learn about and connect with people by learning about their pasts.
What do you wish you had known as an American Studies student? What advice would you share with current students?
I came to the major later, after exploring other majors. I wish I would have started with it!
*You can contact Jonathan with questions about his American Studies story at jfgarcia9@gmail.com.