Graduate Headed to Harvard Law School

One Westminster graduate looks forward to an exciting fall as she prepares to enter Harvard Law School.  Robyn Parkinson from St. Louis knew in high school she wanted to attend law school and is about to see her dream come true.

Parkinson applied to 13 different law schools but when she visited Harvard on Admitted Students Weekend, her final choice was clear.  “I fell in love on my visit, and they have the prettiest library I’ve ever seen,” she says. “The faculty there cares deeply about what they do, and they are doing cutting edge work and research.”

Parkinson feels strongly her many opportunities at Westminster helped her to gain entry to such a prestigious school…and her straight 4.0 GPA didn’t hurt.

“Greek life fleshed me out as a person–learning how to talk in professional settings, how to hold and carry yourself, and dress so you have a business wardrobe,” she says.  Parkinson is a member of Kappa Alpha Theta.

Serving as a math tutor under Drs. Erin Martin and Katie Benson for four years was a major influence.  “Helping people work through ideas which they don’t understand and you do is a very transforming experience,” says Parkinson.  “You learn a great deal more about the way you think.”

Being a member of the Blue Blazers Investment Committee was another valuable experience.  “Learning all the stock and investment terms will be helpful in the future, and getting to visit New York City with the group and places like the  Stock Exchange and Merrill Lynch are experiences you could never have on your own.”

Parkinson is also thankful Westminster was an affordable choice since law school will be so expensive. “Westminster provided scholarship assistance that has made law school financially possible for me,” she says.  Last year she was one of 12 students nationally to win a $1,500 Gaston Noll Scholarship from the Alpha Chi Academic Honor Society due to a paper she submitted that she had written for her Supreme Court class under Dr. Tobias Gibson.

Robyn is third generation Westminster.  Her father Brad graduated in 1982 and her grandfather Lewis Arnold in 1957. Her mother, a graduate of William Woods, also attended classes at Westminster and is an attorney herself.  Robyn and her mother both took class from Professor John Langton.

“Wherever I go, Westminster people follow,” she says.  She attended a conference in Washington, D.C. and six Westminster alumni joined her and her professor for dinner.

Now she is leaving to make the Westminster community proud.  She says, “There are millions of things I wish I could have done here–there is never enough time to do everything you want to do.  It is hard for me to leave all these amazing people, my professors, and this campus behind, but I am so excited to be taking the next step.”

Listen to a Westminster Waves interview with Robyn about her journey to Harvard Law School here.