A summer Community Building Internship (CBI) led to a job, LSAT support and career path clarity for Michel Romero ’25, a double major in political science and international area studies.
Romero is starting her last year at K with a part-time job as a legal assistant at Farmworker Legal Services (FLS), thanks to her internship through the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement (CCE). She took the LSAT in August, with her confidence bolstered by the attorneys at FLS.
“Everyone catches wind in the office that you’re studying for the LSAT, you’re on the path to be an attorney, and they throw stuff at you, like, ‘You need experience in this and this and this,’” Romero said. “What prepared me the most for life after K was talking with the attorneys about their law school journey, how they studied for the LSAT, how the LSAT was for them, and the process of law school.”
Those personal experiences provided invaluable information and support for Romero as a first-generation college student.
“I have no one to guide me, so I’m leading on my own, which is scary,” Romero said. “Knowing someone who can talk you through it and basically hold your hand, so you have that extra confidence, that’s indescribable. The fact that I was able to gain that made it so concrete that I can go to law school. They made it, and they’re saying I can, too.”
The internship with FLS included assisting attorneys with legal cases and performing outreach. Romero traveled all over Michigan, visiting registered housing for farm workers and educating the workers on their rights, including topics such as housing conditions, minimum wage, how to leave a contract early, taxes and more. Many migrant workers may not realize they have legal rights regardless of their immigration status, and FLS both educates them and helps them connect with free legal services when needed.
The best part of the CBI, for Romero, was the moments when it became clear that there was sufficient evidence to have confidence in winning a case for a client who wanted to pursue legal action.
“That is such a beautiful moment for me, seeing a client reclaim their individuality, their rights, and regain a sense of respect for themselves,” Romero said. “Sometimes members of the migrant worker community are so defeated, think they have no rights, and they’re scared to do anything because they need to work and send money back to their families.”
A challenge was leaving the emotional burden of the work at work instead of carrying it home.
“When you see something in person like terrible housing conditions, that will stick with you,” Romero said. “I would come home late, drained and devastated with what I saw. But we can’t stop doing the work we do, because there is no one else to do this work.”
While the cases at FLS are confidential, so Romero wasn’t able to share details with friends or family, she found a strong support network in the staff at FLS. In addition, staff and other students at the CCE helped Romero stay motivated with their support and regular reflection dinners for all the CBI students.
“The reflection dinners did provide encouragement to keep going,” Romero said. “I liked seeing what my peers were doing and hearing about their experiences. I went through so much as a child of immigrants. A lot of the students work with children, and hearing about their experiences reminded me that I’m doing this work so other kids don’t have to go through what I went through.”
Romero went into the CBI unsure whether she wanted to pursue nonprofit work or private law practice. She learned a lot about nonprofits—and along the way, decided that path is not for her.
“Although I think it’s beautiful, it’s amazing, I don’t think it’s a job for me,” Romero said. “It’s going to be difficult to step away from that type of work, because it’s like a calling sometimes, and it’s so fulfilling at the end of the day. It’s been a tough road sitting with that and navigating that, because although I would love to continue my work there, it’s not what I want to do. I’m planning to work in a private law firm so I can focus on the cases.”
The CBI had been on Romero’s radar since her first year at K, when her advisor Richard Sylvester, assistant director of experiential opportunities at the Center for Career and Professional Development, suggested FLS would be a good fit with Romero’s background and plans. She grew up in agriculture, with parents who were migrant farm workers, and came to K already determined to become an attorney. Although she was initially unsure she could afford to spend a summer interning in Kalamazoo, Romero sought out similar experiences.
Her sophomore year, Romero enrolled in a Spanish course that involved working with FLS to help Spanish-speaking farm workers fill out a form to apply for a COVID-19 relief payment.
Around the same time, Romero connected with Angela Bortel ’97 through her sophomore seminar in international area studies. The seminar focused on immigration, and Professor of Political Science Amy Elman brought Bortel into the classroom via Zoom to talk about her work as an immigration attorney in Minneapolis.
Romero applied for and was offered a summer internship at The Bortel Firm and stayed with the Bortel family while she worked there.
“It was a very immersive experience,” Romero said. “She said, ‘I’m going to give you the tools, and you’re going to learn so much on your own.’ She really threw me in, and then every week, we would meet and discuss things. She was honest about what it would be like to be an immigration attorney, and I got so much hands-on experience.
“It was really fulfilling work for me. I was shying away from being an immigration attorney, because it felt cliché; both of my parents are immigrants. But I fell into this, and I was like, ‘OK, I kind of love this work. I kind of love working with these clients.’ Since I grew up in a farm worker environment, I see each client as part of my community, and I feel like I’m talking to a brother, a sister, or an aunt, an uncle, and I’m trying to provide support that otherwise they wouldn’t have access to.”
Romero’s Senior Integrated Project (SIP) involves research into COVID-19’s effects on an already deeply flawed immigration system.
Romero has been involved with the CCE since her first year at K, when her first-year mentor was the Civic Engagement Scholar (CES) for the tutoring program at local bilingual elementary school El Sol. She encouraged Romero to tutor at El Sol, then to work as the CES for the program her sophomore year. After spending her junior year studying abroad in Oaxaca, Mexico, Romero is the CES for the Kalamazoo County ID program her senior year.
“Throughout my time at K, the CCE has been my home away from home,” Romero said. “They push me to do better and have encouraged me to keep pushing for my goals in a way that I have never encountered, especially in education. They have reminded me countless times that there are good people out in the world and that I have peers that are as passionate as I am. They also make me feel like I belong on campus, that there is a space for me in higher education.
“My time at K has been filled with amazing staff that have supported me in everything and have pushed me to believe in myself. I don’t think I have ever believed in myself as much as I have at K.”