Law students banded together to succeed

By Gabriella Chapman

TEAMWORK definitely made the dream work for this year’s Guyanese batch of Hugh Wooding Law graduates, who all successfully completed their journey a few weeks ago.
The Pepperpot Magazine spoke with a few of these new attorneys-at-law, to ascertain what drive kept them going throughout their studies, since we all know that Law is one of the toughest, and noblest careers. These young individuals said that they owe it all to their fellow Guyanese classmates.

We found this quite an interesting story to share because what they would have also expressed, is that upon entering the LLB programme at the University of Guyana, the aim is to be one of the top 25 students.

Only the top 25 students in the programme gain automatic acceptance into Hugh Wooding. The others gain entry at their own luck.

“The minute you hit UG, you hear about the top 25, only the top 25 go to Hugh Wooding. And that’s quite unfortunate and challenging, especially for our year, since over 80 students would have enrolled in the programme,” Ashley Henry said.

Though they were saddened at the fact that the quota is so low, and that the dreams of a number of students will be crushed, they were forced to adopt a competitive spirit because they all wanted the same thing at the end of the journey.

They described their three years at UG as the toughest, since apart from having to keep in mind that there are only 25 spots, most of them were balancing jobs to help sustain themselves, as well as participating in extra-curricular activities.

HUGH WOODING
Upon securing a spot in the top 25 at UG, these attorneys said that the Hugh Wooding experience took quite a twist.

“When we arrived in Trinidad we soon realised that it was no longer a competition. All we had was each other,” one attorney said.

dding, that because most of them were so young and since they were no longer with their parents, they had to adapt to the new environment and practically take care of themselves.
Samuel Glasgow, who will be admitted to the bar later this week, shared that they could not afford to fail, since the tuition alone is approximately three million Guyana dollars. In addition to tuition, they have to find airfare, monthly rent, food, clothing and other necessities. And with the Guyanese students being the minority in the school, they developed the brother-sister bond and looked out for each other throughout the two years.
They shared that they would often have group study to ensure everyone understood their work and that everyone was prepared for the exams and so on.

Glasgow said that their years at Hugh Wooding taught them a lot of self-building attributes, apart from the law.

“Being away from our parents and being in a strange country, forced maturity on us at our young age. We had to learn discipline and time management, commitment and perseverance. We had to learn to become comfortable with being uncomfortable,” he said.
The Guyanese group did practically everything together. They traveled the country to try to get as much exposure as they could, went on morning jogs, participated in competitions at the school, and waved their Guyana flag as proudly as they could.

Though they were their brother’s keeper, Samuel said that finding time for themselves was also important. He said that for anyone, getting into any tedious career, mental and emotional health are of great importance. That they kept in mind and practised, and now, all of the Guyanese students who started in the 2016 academic year, were successful.
Ron Motilall, Teriq Mohammed, Ashley Henry, Tiffini Barton, Shaunessy Profitt, Glendon Greenidge, Kaycia Ellis, Rebecca Khan, Tonza Sarrabo, Malika George, Shivani Lalaram, Nikita Edwards, Saevion David-Longe, Tevera Franklin, Ayana Fable, Krystal Sukra, Christopher Thompson, Donavon Rangaiah, Kezia Campbell, Odessa James, Loretta Noel, Nirvanie Cheddie, Raeanna Clarke, Samuel Glasgow, Sarah Martin, Michelle Matthias, and Surihya Sabsook are the proud graduates.

Of this batch, 22 have so far been admitted to the bar of Guyana, while the remaining five are scheduled to be admitted during the course of the week.

NEED FOR LOCAL LAW SCHOOL

Though these new attorneys were successful in their journey, they expressed the need for the establishment of a local Law School.

“Although it was a successful journey, it was a heavy financial burden. Since our currency is so low, Guyanese students pay a lot more,” Glasgow lamented.

They also shared that sometimes some UG students make the top 25 but they cannot go on to Hugh Wooding because they cannot afford it.

“We were a little fortunate in our year because the government passed in their budget, a specified amount that will go towards payments for law school. For the two years, we received approximately 20,000 TT dollars. It wasn’t a whole lot but it came in handy to help us with food and rent especially,” Henry said.

Adding that if they can continue that, and possibly increase the amount until Guyana is able to establish its own law school, it would ease the burden on students and their parents.

She stressed the importance of lawyers in this critical time of our country’s development. “I believe there are a lot of areas developing now especially with the oil and gas industry and everything that is to come, we will definitely need lawyers in terms of legislation and negotiation contracts especially,” she said.

This they believe should strike the government to continue pushing to have a local law school established so that more persons can afford the opportunity of venturing into this noble career.