As a special education teacher in New York City, Olivia Sapin ’27 saw firsthand the legal and advocacy challenges faced by her students. Their experiences, which she found were often unfair, inspired her to go to law school to become an advocate for children in foster care and for children with special needs.
What is your hometown, and where did you study before Fordham Law School?
I am from Los Angeles, and I went to the University of Southern California.
What was led you to apply to law school?
For the past nine years I have served as a special education teacher working with students classified as having emotional disturbance. Over half of my students have involvement with the legal system and about half of them are in foster care. Almost 90% of my students are males of color. My students are what has inspired me to do more, as I love them and believe in them to the utmost, but find that our educational system has failed them.. Because our students are in special education and sometimes do not have guardians able to provide oversight, the typical checks and balances can be brushed under the rug and excused. After getting my masters in teaching special education in grades seven to 12, I went on to get a second masters in educational leadership through the New York City Dept. of Education’s Leaders in Educational Apprenticeship Program, which prepared me to become an assistant principal or principal. Shortly after graduating from this program, I realized that I wanted to be able to do more than improve just one school or student body, I wanted to be able to make broad changes to the educational system that would result in concrete changes for a wide range of students. This led me to apply to law school,
What made you choose Fordham Law?
The first time I toured Fordham, I knew it was a place where I could belong. I loved the building and how it felt modern and professional, yet somewhere students looked at home. I loved that there was a robust public interest focus but also high profile guest speakers on a variety of topics. I feel as if Fordham will help me to become the best lawyer I can be.
What do you hope to do with your law degree in the future?
I hope to make broad changes to the public schools in New York City, focusing primarily on how the school systems could better serve students in special education and students in foster care. I would like to find ways to bring more accountability to the education system and to highlight the inequity that these particular groups have faced historically.
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