Name: Isabel Ballester '26
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
Undergrad: Davidson College

Isabel (ees-ah-belle) is invested in serving her community and creating spaces for people to feel seen & heard. Prior to law school, she spent three years working at the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office in the Special Investigations and Conviction Integrity Units where she worked on cases involving police misconduct and wrongful incarcerations. Most recently, she held the role of Program Coordinator with the Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project, an organization that believes children do not belong in adult jails or prisons, and that people deserve to return home and live full lives with dignity. 
Isabel is a first-generation, Afro-Latina law student with a passion for social justice and advocacy. She has a BA in Sociology, with a focus on Gender & Sexuality Studies, from Davidson College. 

Name: Jenna Centofanti '25
Hometown: Middleton, Massachusetts
Undergrad: Mount Holyoke College
Interest: Housing Justice and Reform, Economic Justice, and Civil Rights 

Jenna Centofanti has spent the time between graduating college and beginning law school working for different undomiciled populations in New York State. She has worked with victims of domestic violence fleeing alleged abusers, those struggling with substance abuse disorders, former veterans, and others afflicted with housing insecurities. Jenna has assisted her former clients in receiving subsidized housing, vouchers, welfare, and various medical services. It was her work during the pandemic that made Jenna want to focus on the law surrounding housing rights and to become a better advocate. Jenna is interested in learning more about eviction prevention during her time at Rutgers law and other ways to assist those affected by the housing crisis that arose from the Covid-19 Pandemic. Jenna hopes with her passion and a legal education, she can better serve her community at large.

Name: Loris Dennis `24
Hometown: Michigan
Undergraduate: Denison University
Graduate: Boston University
Interests: Public Interest, Education Law

Loris Dennis is a 1L from Michigan. She attended Denison University as a Psychology major. Throughout her studies at Denison, she took on various leadership roles and completed independent research focusing on the intersection between literacy development and disadvantaged communities. After undergrad, Loris joined Teach for America in Boston, Massachusetts where she received her Masters in Education, taught 10th-grade Biology and worked for the organization outside of teaching. While working as a teacher, she noticed the racial and economic struggles her students and families were experiencing and wanted to do everything she could to support them. She knew law school was an important step to advocating and serving them.  She is particularly interested in the education, the legal system, and housing injustices that face communities of color and disadvantaged populations.  Loris hopes to use her law degree to advocate and serve communities like her students to ensure they are receiving justice. Loris strives for equity ensuring these communities are getting the legal justice they need and deserve.

Name: Jibri Douglas, MPH `25
Hometown: Newark, NJ
Undergrad: University of Georgia
Interests: Racial Justice, Civil Rights, Real Estate, Public Health, Entrepreneurship, Movement Lawyering, Civil Litigation 

Jibri Douglas hails from Newark, NJ, and is currently a 1LE in the part-time program. In 2010, Jibri graduated from the University of Georgia with a bachelor's degree in Health Promotion and Behavior. Since graduating from UGA, Jibri has worked tirelessly in the HIV/AIDS field in many capacities primarily with LGBT homeless youth, substance users and formerly incarcerated women of color. In 2017, Jibri graduated with their Master of Public Health degree from Drexel University concentrating in Health Management and Policy.  Today, Jibri is the Program Manager of Family Planning for a local Philadelphia non-profit as well as a professor at Montclair State University. Additionally, Jibri identifies as a social entrepreneur who over the years has slowly married their background in public health to entrepreneurship. Jibri started their journey in 2008 by publishing their first poetry book "Old Vs. New: The Chronicles of Growth" selling over 300 copies in undergrad. In 2015, after successfully launching the first hospital-wide LGBTQ healthcare initiative in Hudson County, NJ, Jibri founded TJD Medical Consulting, a small diversity and inclusion boutique consulting firm with a focus on healthcare organizations. In 2019, Jibri transitioned into real estate development. After years of working in public health and seeing the impacts of housing blight on communities, Jibri created Noire Real Estate, LLC. As a Social Justice Scholar and subsequently as a practicing attorney, Jibri plans to combine their experience and passion for public health, real estate, and entrepreneurism to work alongside communities to revitalize residential and commercial properties, close the generational wealth gap, and fight against codified disenfranchisement in our legal system for Black and Brown communities. Jibri's ultimate goal is one day become a judge at either the appellate or state Supreme Court. 

Name: Kristina Goshorn `26
Hometown: Gettysburg, PA
Undergrad: Albright College

Kristina is a first-generation college and law student. She is a member of the Minority Student Program and APALSA at Rutgers Law. Born in Okinawa, Japan to her U.S. Army Veteran father and immigrant mother from the Philippines, Kristina has always had the exposure to recognize the significance of diversity in forming the American culture. She studied abroad in Santiago, Chile, where she also volunteered with the Ministry of Education of Chile as an English Teacher’s Assistant.
Upon her undergraduate graduation, Kristina completed two internships, serving as a summer intern for U.S. Senator Bob Casey Jr. in Philadelphia, PA and for U.S. Representative Dina Titus in Washington, D.C. She then worked as a field organizer for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party during the U.S. 2018 midterm elections. Kristina has primarily worked as a paralegal, most recently for The Galati Law Firm where she helps immigrants from all over the world seek a new life in America.

Name: Deidra Hopkins `26
Hometown: Perkasie, PA
Undergrad: Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Interest: Judicial Reform and Civil Rights Advocacy

Deidra has spent more than seven years working in various aspects of the judicial system. In her current capacity, she works in judicial management where she helps manage all of the District Courts in her Judicial District. Her time in the judicial system helped her see that, when properly executed, there is real capacity for healing through restorative justice.  Unfortunately, she also recognized that those instances were more rare than common. She witnessed overly prioritized bureaucracy, racial bias, socioeconomic disparity and political motivations come into play far too often with far too devastating an effect.
Her life has been touched by immigration laws, disability laws, healthcare laws, employment laws, juvenile justice and civil rights laws, all of which put vulnerable people in situations that they are not always equipped to navigate with the expectation that they do so with precision and expertise in order to avoid life altering consequences.

Name: Donisha Kendrick `26
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
Undergrad: Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Interest: Employment Law, Pay Equity, Economic Justice, Intellectual Property

Donisha is a first-generation college graduate and law student. As an undergraduate, she studied Economics, where she did research on the gender wage gap in higher education. Prior to starting law school, she worked as a caseworker for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, providing public benefits. She served one of the most vulnerable populations of Philadelphia, giving her a first-hand view of where services for the low-income communities were lacking. She is driven by inequities she saw growing up in a low-income black community, research she completed during undergrad, and gaps in the system she noticed while working as a civil servant.

Name: Zaniya Lewis `24
Hometown: Edgewater Park, NJ
Undergraduate: The George Washington University
Interests: Civil Rights Law, Education Law, Employment Law, Veterans Law, and Sports Law

Growing up in a military family sparked Zaniya's passion for social justice and advocacy. Zaniya has experienced many obstacles in life, which inspired her to start her own nonprofit organization called YesSheCanCampaign, a 501c3 national nonprofit that empowers youth
to be extraordinary and to change the world. Her nonprofit is centered on equipping young people who are overcoming adversity with the tools and resources to succeed in college and their careers.  In 2019, Zaniya experienced scholarship award displacement as
an undergraduate student and her advocacy is breaking barriers, already resulting in a law (S985) that restricts scholarship award displacement at New Jersey public universities. New Jersey is now the second state in the nation to outlaw scholarship award displacement.
Her advocacy inspired the Helping Students Plan for College Act 2021, a federal bill to address scholarship award displacement nationwide. Having access to resources and opportunities Zaniya had not previously known existed brought inspiration and purpose to her life. Zaniya aspires to use her legal degree to assist government agencies and corporations in developing their diversity initiatives, employment programs, military and veterans affairs, scholarship programs, and more. She is also interested in working in several areas of law, such as employment law, veterans law, education law, sports law, civil rights, and more. Zaniya’s mission in life is to inspire others to keep climbing and to use their passions to make a difference in the world.

Name: Shirneil Merisier `25
Undergraduate: The Pennsylvania State University 
Hometown: Abington, PA
Interests: Family Law, Immigration Law, and Civil Rights Law

Shirneil Merisier is a 1L evening student balancing law school and her position at Women Against Abuse as a paralegal, where she advocates for domestic violence victims/survivors as they navigate the judicial system. Aside from the daily advocacy Shirneil engages in with her clients. She is also committed to social justice reform within the workplace. She has taken the responsibility of facilitating conversations on the presence of implicit bias, discriminatory practices, and the role of the police in domestic violence. 

Shirneil’s interest in social justice reform was first sparked by her parents. As the daughter of immigrants, she has witnessed her parents interact with the various judicial systems and has seen first-hand how inaccessible the judicial system is to vulnerable populations. Her goal is to become a liaison between the system and those who are vulnerable. Shirneil is passionate about raising the voices of those who are often overlooked and dismissed.

Prior to law school, Shirneil graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with a B.A. in Public Relations, a B.A. in Psychology, and a minor in Dispute Management and resolutions. While on campus her commitment to her community and social justice reform could be seen through her work within her sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. While on campus Shirneil served as the Global target chair and implemented programs raising awareness on global issues.

Shirneil is dedicated to social justice reform and is excited to expand her areas of interest and advocacy alongside the Social Justice Scholars
 

Name: Lauren “Ren” Ramos `25
Hometown: Knoxville, TN
Undergrad: Smith College
Interests: Youth justice, LGBTQ rights, movement lawyering

Ren (she/they) is a queer Latina whose interest in social justice stems from witnessing the impact of discrimination and inequality in her conservative hometown. While at Smith College, they studied history and sociology with a focus on gender, sexuality, and social movements. They also worked as a research assistant for a reproductive justice history project, through which they created accessible materials for activists to use while organizing. Ren’s research culminated in a sociology honors thesis analyzing the collective memory of HIV/AIDS activism in the United States, which inspires her to bring historical perspectives to her current social justice work.

During undergrad, Ren interned at the Knoxville Public Defender’s Community Law Office, where she became determined to combine social and legal services in her future career. Ren also interned at the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, where they handled correspondence from those who are or have been incarcerated as young people and worked on the development of accessible materials for Spanish speakers. These experiences have led her to Rutgers Law, where she is looking forward to working to expand access to legal education, social support, and justice for her community. Ren is most passionate about serving young people who are involved with the legal system, particularly those who are LGBTQ or members of other marginalized communities. They hope to pursue a path of movement lawyering in order to facilitate the work of progressive organizers.

Name: Yaslin Reyes ‘25
Hometown: Newark, NJ
Undergrad: Rowan University

Born and raised in the city of Newark, to two first generation immigrant parents, Yaslin developed a strong desire to succeed in a career that would allow her to serve her community. Knowing that this would be best achieved through a career in the legal field, Yaslin pursued a bachelor’s degree in Law and Justice Studies from Rowan University. Throughout her time in undergrad, Yaslin helped organize various community service and informational events, to educate the student body about various social justice causes in need of immediate attention and aid. By her senior year, Yaslin had narrowed her career search and realized that she wanted to earn a law degree and become an attorney. Through the help of her professors and mentors, Yaslin was given the opportunity to intern at Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), a non-profit organization that works to provide free legal representation to unaccompanied children faced with immigration proceedings. Her experience with KIND solidified what she refers to as her “life’s purpose” by reassuring her that helping children navigate legal systems is exactly what she was meant to be doing. Yaslin is excited to continue doing the work she is passionate about through the Social Justice Scholars Program. She is also excited and eager to work with other members of SJS for causes they are passionate about as well.

Name: Kerry Robinson `26
Hometown: Tuscaloosa, AL
Undergrad: Swarthmore College
Interest: Housing Law, Civil Rights Law, Public Interest

Kerry has always maintained an interest in housing and housing access for all. After graduation, he worked at the Chester Housing Authority for over six years as an Occupancy Specialist in Housing Choice Voucher Department. During that time, he managed a caseload of over 350 households, conducted program briefings, assisted families with moves and tenant-landlord issues, and coordinated the main waiting list as well as specialized voucher admission programs. During the summer of 2020, he quickly developed a remote leasing process and worked to get 28 households from shelters into permanent housing by the fall under a special voucher initiative. In addition, he was a member of the Homeless Services Coalition within the Delaware County Governing Board, which was a group of housing providers throughout Delaware County, Pennsylvania working together to address homelessness throughout the county and improve the system of care. Kerry hopes to use the law to increase access to affordable housing, make vouchers more accessible and useful, and help increase understanding of tenant's rights.

Name: Julia Sarabia '25
Hometown: Las Vegas, NV
Undergrad: University of California, Los Angeles 
Interests: Economic Justice, Public Policy Reform & Advocacy for Underserved Communities 

Julia a first generation Mexican American and first in her family to go to college and law school. She holds a bachelor’s degree from UCLA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing. Prior to starting law school, she worked in student services serving low income first generation students from diverse backgrounds in Los Angeles and at a family law firm in the Las Vegas area serving a Latino majority client base. She is interested in serving current and former foster youth and system impacted individuals among other special populations.  She is a Legal Education Access Pipeline Fellow, Pipeline to Practice Fellow and Hispanic Scholarship Fund Scholar. 

Name: Aubrey Owen Shiffner `26
Hometown: South Brunswick, NJ
Undergrad: Bryn Mawr College
Interest: LGBTQ rights

Aubrey attended Bryn Mawr College as a non-traditional student and McBride Scholar after completing an associate’s degree at Rowan College at Burlington County. He graduated in 2019 with a B.A. in history, a minor in history of art, and a concentration in Middle East studies. While at Bryn Mawr, Aubrey pursued a passion for research: he interned at the museum of the American Philosophical Society, helped curate an exhibition of historic textiles at Bryn Mawr, and wrote a senior thesis analyzing depictions of domestic violence by members of the early American temperance movement.
Aubrey also worked in customer service as a retail associate, restaurant server, and casino dealer. Between undergrad and law school, he served Burlington County, NJ as a COVID-19 case investigator and contact tracer from 2020 through the end of the contact tracing project in 2023. In the past, he has volunteered as an advocate for victims of sexual and domestic violence, researched grants to help build capacity for a homeless services organization, and volunteered with an immigration clinic helping largely LGBTQ immigrants to navigate the asylum application process. As an openly queer and trans man, Aubrey is particularly concerned with the current issues facing the LGBTQ community, and hopes to use his education to pursue a career in LGBT rights litigation.

Name: Anastasia Swanson-Boyd `26
Hometown: Chapel Hill, NC
Undergrad: Appalachian State University, NC
Interests: Prisoners’ rights, LGBTQIA+ policy, reproductive rights

Anastasia graduated magna cum laude from Appalachian State University with a degree in Political Science and Philosophy. She has experience working with the North Carolina State Government, with a homeless shelter as a grant writer, and working for Grassroots Campaigns as an Assistant Director with the Biden Victory Fund, Planned Parenthood, ACLU, and more. She is working toward a dual JD/MPAP and plans to practice public interest law with a concentration in public policy. More specifically, she is interested in writing public policy related to prisoner’s rights and the dismantling of mass incarceration. She is also interested in LGBTQIA+ policy and Reproductive Rights Law. 

Name: Arden Walker ‘24
Undergrad: University of Cape Town (Honours) 
Interests: Economic and Financial Justice

Between her time at the University of Cape Town in South Africa and as an essential worker during the Covid-19 pandemic, Arden comes to Rutgers Law with a distinct understanding of how economic injustice begets other injustices. Arden’s post-graduate research at the University of Cape Town focused on the development of the Islamic Financial and Economic system in Malaysia and the ways in which they did and did not promote a more equitable and stable economy. With a legal education grounded in an intersectional understanding of economic justice, Arden plans to use the law as a tool for creating a more equitable and stable economic landscape.