Summer workshops help toward law career

(Editor's note: From time to time, Young Saint Louis.com likes to introduce you to older people who have used experiences when they were young to shape their lives as they grew older. This profile of Katie Grzenczyk of Olivette is an example.)

Katie Grzenczyk in elementary school

When she was in elementary school, Katie Grzenczyk looked forward to Gifted Resource Council's summer enrichment workshops to help her "step out of the usual." She said they helped her prepare for her new career as a West Coast lawyer.

Ms. Grzenczyk is now 25 and recently completed academic requirements at the Harvard University Law School. This fall, she will join a San Francisco law firm, where she did a summer internship last year.

She said, "Those early GRC workshops helped me to become more self-directed."

She remembers an Ancient Academy workshop on Rome where she got her first lessons in how government works. "We really got into the politics of Rome with each of us playing the part of a member of one of the Roman classes," she said.

Individual workshop members would "immerse themselves" in the old society. "We'd see how we could persuade other people to advance our projects," she said.

Hands-on projects at the workshops helped her learn better than just learning things in books, she said. In addition to the Ancient Academies, she also took part in workshops that studied life science, biotechnology and outer space.

Those workshops "helped me stretch the muscles of my imagination," she said.

Because of those good early experiences, Katie came back as a GRC workshop helper while she was in college. She helped on workshops in the summers of 1999, 2000 and 2002.

When working as a class helper, Katie always let the new kids know she'd been in their spots. "That connection helped them understand I shared their enthusiasm," she said.

She said she'd saved some workshop T-shirts from her elementary school days. "Those T-shirts had been too big on me then. So I was still able to wear them when I was a helper," she said. She also found an old Egyptian board game, called Senet, that she'd made in one of those early workshops. "I dusted off that old game and brought it in for the new kids to see what I had done," Katie added.

That desire to share enthusiasm about summer workshops continues today.

Katie's graduation ceremonies are in June. Then, she has to study for her bar exams that lead to her law license. That needs to be done before she begins work on Oct. 1.

But, she is applying for opportunities to be a summer helper at GRC-like workshops in the San Francisco area this summer.

She said early GRC workshop experiences helped her to meet with other kids "who shared my idea that learning was cool." She added the GRC workshops "drew kids who wanted to know more than they were getting in regular school."

Since many of the lessons involved doing hands-on exercises, they also helped her to become better at socializing with other kids. Some involved staging "theatrical" events.

Katie today

After her workshop experiences in "persuasion" and theater, Katie decided to get into debate and acting in high school.

Those two extra activities fit into her idea of what sort of a lawyer she'd like to be. She said that her idea of a good lawyer is much more than book learning.

Strengthening her debate skills helped her develop a way to persuade people better. Then, the acting skills will help her courtroom presentations.

During her final semester in law school, she said she had another experience that drew on her imagination skills. At Harvard, the state laws allow final-year law students to represent clients in actual courtrooms, "as long as we're under supervision of a licensed lawyer,"

Therefore, she worked on real cases out of a public defender's office.

"I had real clients from under-privileged areas. Sometimes, I had only a half-hour to get to know them. It's important to step out of my life and get the perspective of the client," she said.

Katie said she wants her law career to include representing "real clients" in courtrooms, not just corporate law. She thinks the early foundation for that type of law work got a big boost when, as an elementary student, she participated in GRC summer academies.

(This summer's Gifted Resource Council summer programs are from June 20 through July 29. To learn more, visit www.giftedresourcecouncil.org.)