No matter who you are in this world, everyone can benefit from a sense of belonging. One of the best ways to achieve this, sometimes being done without even realizing, is by joining a discourse community. Think about any of the things that you love to do. Chances are, there’s a whole world of people just like you who are eager to delve into this topic and talk about it with likeminded individuals. This phenomenon is what we call a discourse community. For me specifically, the two subjects I feel I can connect with other people are the (American) football community, as well as the Law community here at CityTech. These topics may seem very different when you look at them at face value, but I’d say they bring the most fulfillment to my life when talking about them to people in those communities.
One of the first memories I have is of me and my father sitting on the couch, yelling at the TV while watching NFL games. I must admit that at the time, I barely knew what I was even yelling about, but I knew it was fun to spend time with my family watching something together. As I got a little older, around age 8, I finally developed the cognitive abilities to remember what teams, players, and storylines I was watching every week. Ever since that moment, everything clicked in my head. I knew that this was my thing. I started watching YouTube videos about the history of the sport, playing Madden with my older brothers, and even skimming the rulebook while watching the games. I even remember the specific day that I pledged allegiance to my new favorite team: the Carolina Panthers. It was December 27th, 2015, less than 2 weeks after my 9th birthday. While it seemed like a fun and necessary thing to do at that time of my football fan journey, I had no idea of the ramifications this choice would have for the next decade of my life. There was one big reason why – they suck! Ever since the 2019 season, the Carolina Panthers have consistently finished amongst the bottom of the NFL standings. But no matter the circumstances, I’ve always stuck by them and supported the team throughout the many, many lows and the very uncommon highs.
Even though I was delving deeper and deeper into my football craze each year, there was just one problem. None of my friends watched the sport. Every year as I got older, talked to more people and made more friends, there seemed to be one thing in common – they didn’t watch football. It seemed that everyone was more fascinated with basketball and soccer, and the only time they spoke about the NFL was when the Super Bowl came around. This made me feel a little bit isolated in my interest, and I ended up seeking a connection to the game in other ways, most notably through social media. Through Twitter and Instagram, I found a community of not only Panthers fans, but fans of the NFL in general. I started making connections with individuals in these communities, and some of my favorite moments involving sports are watching Panthers games live with my online friends, talking and laughing throughout the game and usually complaining about our team during halftime. Nowadays, checking in with the Panthers community on social media is something I do almost every single day. Whether it’s a new development in an offseason story, expressing our distrust in our team’s owner, or any other news in the NFL, I know I have a place to talk about it amongst people who love the sport as much as I do.
My second discourse community, which is one that I still have a lot to learn about, is the law community here at CityTech. While I am only in my first year here in the Paralegal Studies major, I’ve really enjoyed the courses I’ve taken with a law-focus and the classmates I’ve interacted with in those courses. I’ve known that I wanted to go into a law related career ever since the end of middle school, but the connotations that come with pursuing a law career have always been scary to me. People always warn me about the rough working hours, constant studying, and other hardships that come with pursuing a career in the legal field. This made me a little uneasy, but in my Junior and Senior years of high school I was able to surround myself with people chasing a similar career. This was largely because my school had a major system, and Law & Society was the one I chose. This decision ended up being one of the best I have ever made, I ended up falling in love with the practice of law even more than I already was. Another big advantage was that I was constantly surrounded by people who also had their own fears regarding the pursuit of a legal career. This made us all feel a little bit less scared on our journey, knowing that these thoughts were normal and something that we all experienced. Towards the end of the year, our entire class got the opportunity to visit a big law firm called Sidley Austin in Midtown. This single experience solidified my goal to go into the legal field, we got to talk to associates, partners, and even BlackRock lawyers who walked us through their career path starting from high school, college, law school, and eventually finding their calling to their specific law focus.
Eventually, it came time to graduate and move onto college. My choice to major in Paralegal Studies was an easy one, since it was the only law related major here at City Tech. I was a little nervous though, since this college in more of a Technical focused school and almost everyone I talk to outside of my major is in a STEM related major. Nevertheless, I registered for my classes and was excited when it came time to attend my law courses. It was a pleasant surprise. My two law professors were some of the best instructors I’ve ever had in my educational career. They made the curriculum super interesting and allowed us to speak amongst ourselves often rather than just drag out the lectures for hours on end. My favorite class was Introduction to Paralegal Studies. Professor Coughlin was such a good teacher, and she managed to take us on a court hearing observation towards the end of the semester where we got to witness a man get indicted for a gang-related incident. After we left the courthouse, our entire class was engaging with each other because it was such an interesting case and a rare look into the judicial system for students early in their law journey. This single day allowed me to talk to numerous classmates that I hadn’t gotten the chance to introduce myself to beforehand, and we were all fascinated by what we had just seen. When I got home from this experience, I was left feeling excited to meet more law students whom I can share similar experiences with in the future.
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