The Paralegal Student Association at Sinclair Community College brings paralegal students together to network and build relationships with each other and with professionals in the field.
PSA was initiated four years ago by students with the help of Mike Bringer, chair of the Paralegal Department. After the first year, Assistant Professor Jenna Beck became the adviser.
“Networking is a skill you need to have to be a paralegal, it’s crucial [in order] to get a job,” Beck said. “So we do networking and volunteer events.”
The PSA collected 91 household items for a volunteer event during the last two weeks of fall semester 2012.
“The items were given to families on Dec. 22, 2012 at the McKinney Vento Education Program’s Holiday Celebration,” Beck said.
Once a month, PSA also holds social events.
“We hold what is called ‘off the record’ one Saturday a month. It’s just where students go and talk to each other,” Beck said. “This program is very rigorous, so they decompress and it’s a chance for the students who have been in the program a while to give advice to the students who are new.”
According to Beck, during classroom hours, students are learning how to do the assignments and not necessarily how to talk to other attorneys or paralegals. The PSA gives students a chance to do that.
Every year, an event called Paralegal Day is held to honor one paralegal and one law firm in the community.
“The PSA is always big in helping with that,” Beck said. “They get volunteers to staff and always have a booth introducing themselves to the community.”
On Feb. 27, the PSA is having a networking event where stations will be set up and each student will sit down with an attorney. During the sit down, the attorney will provide feedback about what they can do to better themselves.
“The attorney will give them feedback,” Beck said. “Things like, ‘here is what you could work on with your handshake,’ ‘here’s what you could work on with eye contact’ and ‘here is what you could work on in regards to professional dress.’”
Beck said other stations are provided during the event, such as having an attorney review one’s resume and practice interview questions.
“[The Paralegal Program] is a really good start for students who are interested in law school,” Beck said. “They can transfer to a four-year school and they have already had hands-on experience.”
The PSA is holding a bake sale on March 27 in Building 14 for Professor Deborah Badonsky, who is retiring after 35 years.
“This bake sale is important to our department because Debbie Badonsky has been here for 35 years and she is retiring,” Beck said.
The funds that are earned from the sale will go toward the scholarship that was set up in Badonsky’s name.
“We’re hoping that we will do well since the scholarship is brand new and it is Debbie’s last year,” she said. “We’re trying to honor her by raising those funds.”
Anyone interested in the Paralegal Program can contact Beck at jenna.beck@my.sinclair.edu or Bringer at mike.bringer@my.sinclair.edu.