Alumni Rewind

This “Alumni Rewind” features Jarrett M. Adams ’09. NBC Nightly News reporter Lester Holt interviews Jarrett about being exonerated after serving nearly 10 years for a wrongful conviction and using the injustice he endured as inspiration to become an advocate for the underserved and uncounted. He earned an Associate’s Degree from SSC in 2009, eventually graduated from Loyola Law School and passed the New York bar exam on his first attempt in 2016. Congratulations Jarrett on the first of many wins!.

Bulldog Pride

Clarissa Charles

Paralegal/Legal Assistant Program, Class of 2003
 
Clarissa, Homewood Resident, and Thornton Township High School graduate, has utilized her skills and degree earned through the college’s Paralegal/Legal Assistant Program to earn a rewarding career as a paralegal with LAF (Formerly known as The Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago).

“This is a job I love to do. Legal Research and writing skills, as well as communication and listening skills, are the most essential elements that I learned from SSC,” said Clarissa. “Although my organization does not handle probate matters, the knowledge obtained in my probate law class, taught by my former instructor Patrick Dean, has become quite useful in identifying many heirship issues, as it relates to property, that comes my way.”

Clarissa works closely with an intake attorney and directors (also attorneys) of the Client Screening Unit in the Homeownership/Foreclosure Project. She screens homeowners facing the loss of their homes through foreclosures or other housing-related issues in gathering demographic, confirming property, and title/mortgage loan information, while identifying other issues that homeowners and their family members may be adversely affected by in order to offer legal advice, referrals, or legal assistance. When her schedule permits, Clarissa also volunteers in community outreach programs within the organization.

Clarissa has shown her Bulldog Pride returning to campus to give back several times in the years since her graduation, including serving on discussion panels for SSC’s annual Law Day.