Shreeya Ravi ’25 has marked her place at the College of William and Mary through her involvement in a plethora of extracurriculars and activities, including her experience as a legal intern for the William and Mary Center for Racial and Social Justice.
Ravi joined the Center at the start of January 2022 with a desire to be involved in the legal field as an undergraduate.
“It’s a very small thing on campus that no pre-law kids know about. I had to find it by deep diving on the law school website. I worked with professors and I helped with their case research, and I had my own independent project going on. It was basically like a class, but it counted as a government internship,” Ravi said.
“It’s a very small thing on campus that no pre-law kids know about. I had to find it by deep diving on the law school website. I worked with professors and I helped with their case research, and I had my own independent project going on. It was basically like a class, but it counted as a government internship,” Ravi said.
The College’s Center for Racial and Social Justice engages in research and programs to promote progress in relation to social justice. The office is located in the College’s Law School and is home to interdisciplinary faculty and students conducting research on social justice work, such as human and civil rights and socioeconomic class.
Ravi highlighted that she had the opportunity to pursue independent research for the Center for academic credit as an undergraduate student by writing a paper on a legal topic of her choice.
“It took me a while to figure out my topic,” Ravi said. “I started off with drug possession for some reason, and then somehow I ended up looking at racial bias within jurors on the actual trials. So that’s essentially my research project. And then I would have it checked over by the legal fellows in the actual clinic.”
Ravi noted that part of the reason she wanted to become involved with the Center was because she felt there was a lack of resources for pre-law undergraduate students at the College.
“There are not that many pre-law resources on campus,” Ravi said. “I have a lot of friends that are pre-med, and they always have a list of things they have to do. For law school, it’s a lot less of that. It’s more that you take the LSAT at some point. There’s not really courses or a database that we have. So, I just decided to do it because it was an opportunity where I could actually try and see how law school would be, because I don’t know how it’s going to be.”
Ravi is also the social chair of the College’s Archery Club and a member of the South Asian Student Association. During her sophomore year, Ravi coordinated Mock Mehndi, an annual event that SASA organizes with a marital-themed celebration. In addition, Ravi is a part of Global Medical Brigades, a student-led organization comprised of students and medical professionals that strives to help local communities lead healthier lives by implementing sustainable health systems. This past spring semester, Ravi traveled to Honduras with the Global Medical Brigades during spring break, helping with translation of medical questions and data collection during triage.
“We volunteer at a medical clinic abroad over spring break,” Ravi said. “Last semester we went to Honduras for all of spring break and worked 14 hours a day, and I had to use my wonderful Spanish, which is okay. Most of my job there was being a translator, so I had to help with customs issues at one point and translate medical Spanish. It was a lot of fun. I met really cool people there and it was a lot of work, I barely got sleep.”
Ravi highlighted that she joined an organization focused on medicine and healthcare because she initially wanted to double major in biology and international relations. She said the club’s hands-on outreach provided an engaging opportunity outside of campus.
“I joined the club freshman year when I was still a bio and IR major,” Ravi said. “The thing that appealed to me was just the fact that I could go abroad and I could see that side of an organization rather than just volunteering from home.”
Ravi emphasized that the trip to Honduras was one of her most rewarding experiences in college.
“Besides my friends, I think Honduras is definitely one of the most memorable things,” Ravi said. “Any of my international travel things always seem very memorable to me. I also studied abroad in Prague over the summer, so that was really memorable for me because we went to a bunch of countries, and I just like meeting new people.”
“Besides my friends, I think Honduras is definitely one of the most memorable things,” Ravi said. “Any of my international travel things always seem very memorable to me. I also studied abroad in Prague over the summer, so that was really memorable for me because we went to a bunch of countries, and I just like meeting new people.”
During her time on campus, Ravi has also worked with SOMOS — the College’s Global Research Institute’s Ignite Lab division that centers around community building — where she and fellow students were contracted by companies to analyze data and design websites.
“We worked essentially with a company called Puente Desarrollo Internacional, which does public health in communities in the Dominican Republic,” Ravi said. “We worked with them to do data analysis and create graphics for the website that shows where communities are affected and what goes on in those communities, and what is needed to be done.”
Over the summer, Ravi worked with the Borgen Project, a nonprofit that addresses global poverty and focuses on U.S. foreign policy, while working with political leaders to combat extreme poverty. Specifically, Ravi worked as a political affairs intern to help with the nonprofit’s mobilizing, fundraising and lobbying efforts.
“My job there was political affairs intern, so what I did there was lobby with certain congressmen and have meetings with them and help with media support too,” Ravi said.
Ravi found the job to be a useful experience for her international relations major because it gave her the opportunity to network with political leaders and community members.
“I would also help people get involved in politics, trying to get them to sign certain petitions and also work towards better global health, like reducing the poverty rate — which is mostly the reason why I joined — it was like an international relations job but from home,” Ravi said.
After college, Ravi plans to take a gap year before attending law school, stating that it was a matter of a process of elimination. Her involvement in casework and writing papers for classes provides strong footing for a future law career.
“I didn’t want to be an engineer. I really like doing research and problem solving. And in my head, a lawyer is just a consultant for crime, so that’s like problem solving and just analysis,” Ravi said.
Ravi also emphasized that she wants to help others with her future career and enjoys how it blends her two majors of IR and psychology together.
“I also want to try to help people with my job, and I can’t do medicine to save my life,” Ravi said. “Then I actually started liking doing some casework and reading all those things and writing papers, in college, at least. But I always knew I wanted to get into something that has to do with travel and languages which is why I major in International Relations, and I like figuring people out, which is where psychology came in. I think all of those things kind of just morph together.”
Aside from all of the activities and clubs that Ravi is involved in on campus, she highlights the significance of building friendships in college as it leads to a fulfilling experience that can balance out the stress of academics. Ravi feels that her friends have been the best part of her time at the College, reminiscing about the fond memories spent together.
“Even though I do love what I work on, and my internships, and courses and stuff, they get really hectic,” Ravi said. “I think that’s honestly probably the thing I like most about William and Mary is all the friends I’ve made. Even though this place has given me so many opportunities and the field I want to go into, it’s the friends that make the most of it to me, rather than all the projects I work on.”