Tamara Freilich L’16

Being part of a military family, Tamara moved a lot growing up.  Despite living in such diverse communities, she found kindness and honesty everywhere she went, and saw that despite cultural differences, there is unity in the everyday struggle of trying to live a good and productive life.  Within this unity she sees that poverty, race, gender, and ethnicity do not alter potential, yet the inequities that result from such factors frustratingly do. Throughout college (Emory University), Tamara volunteered and interned in some of the most destitute areas of the world, yet has found some of the brightest, most compassionate minds.  It is in the quiet lives of these hardworking individuals that she finds her inspiration for public service work.

Tamara believes that liberty is the most fundamental right, and is committed to a career as a public defender who will demand that this right be upheld through the most honest, transparent, and legitimate process.  Working with men accused or convicted of sexual violence during an independent research project in Cape Town, South Africa, Tamara saw how easy it is for an unfettered government to trample on constitutionally protected rights. Seeing this same disparity in the United States between laws that promise certain rights, and a social reality that fails to secure them has fueled her commitment to a career in public defense. She understands that the law alone is not enough to secure a right and that it is through committed individuals that human rights are upheld. She is fully intends to be one of those individuals.