Sebastian Ross

You are the president of Boyd's Black Law Students Association. Please tell our readers about the organization's summer and plans for the year.  

The Black Law Students Association’s extracurricular year started early. I must shout-out the herculean effort so far from this year’s executive board. Our summer consisted of attempting to bring the Boyd community together during contentious moments. We focused our effort on organizing a remembrance vigil honoring Black lives lost to unwarranted police violence, holding two discussion forums predicated on police reform and social justice rights featuring representatives from various state government agencies, participating in a youth justice forum at the Pearson Community Center, and launching a BLSA fundraiser where we donated a portion of proceeds to a local non-profit. 

For the upcoming year, we currently have applications open for a book scholarship, we’re starting a new mentorship program with the Las Vegas Chapter of the National Bar Association, we’re having a judicial candidate forum later this fall, and we’re in the middle of programming various Black History Month events in the spring semester–we certainly would like to do more. 

We want to help the Boyd community better understand issues of particular concern to the Black legal community, as part of our effort to grow future leaders within Nevada. I encourage everyone to come and learn more.

What is your "desert island" book? 

An informative sports perspective that stands out in recent memory is Howard Bryant’s The Heritage: Black Athletes, a Divided America, and the Politics of Patriotism.

Which of your 1L classes last year was your fave?

My favorite is predicated on content alone (all my professors were pretty cool.): Contracts. 

Gotta ask... what's the thing you will do first when things go back to something like normal?

My two Grandmas are 93, so I think about them. Giving them a hug would be nice.