The Winter 2011 class graduated on March 13, 2011.

Thank you all again for coming out today to celebrate the accomplishments of the Spring 2011 graduating class of the UH Paralegal Studies Program.  It’s been an intense and demanding 8 weeks for all of my fellow classmates sitting here today.  At times we all questioned whether or not we could make it each week, but we made it through to the end and here we sit today celebrating our success. 

Most, and usually all, of our free time was consumed by this course as we worked on homework, studied for tests and worked on extra credit.  On behalf of my fellow classmates we express sincere thanks to each of our family members, friends, and coworkers for your support, patience and understanding as we pushed through this course.  Thank you for understanding when we didn’t call, email or text you.  And thank you for listening and offering words of support during the times we did call or email you to simply complain about the course’s workload or when we questioned how we could possible survive this course.

We also must thank our incredible instructor, Jac Brennan, for pushing us to do and learn more than we ever thought possible.  It was clear by the end of the first day that this class would not be a course that you could simply show up each day and expect to earn a certificate at the end of the 8 weeks.  Each week Jac filled our minds with an immense amount of knowledge and information.    At first Jac’s expectations for this course seemed extreme and overwhelming.  But as each week went by we found ourselves learning and accomplishing more than we ever realized possible. 

The knowledge gained from this course is invaluable.  Not only did we learn how to be better paralegals and learn a tremendous amount about the legal industry, we also learned to be more aware of our world, our country and to pay attention to current events going on around us.  We became better people through this course and will always carry this wealth of knowledge with us.  Thank you, Jac, for teaching us all of these things and for showing us the potential inside each of us.  Thank you for making us more aware and to appreciate the great country we live in. 

To my fellow classmates, I want to say it has been a very positive experience to go through this course with each you.  We all enrolled this course for different reasons and came from many different backgrounds, but as time went by we managed to find similarities and began to bond and support each other as we developed friendships that will last beyond this course.  As the course went on we laughed with each other (occasionally at each other), we cringed when we saw our test grades or when Jac reviewed our homework at mid-weeks, but through it all we learned so much about each other.  It was an honor to meet and get to know each and every one of you over the last 8 weeks and I hope to stay in touch with you.  I wish each of you the absolute best in your future endeavors.  Again, thank you all!

Matt Blanscet

Valedictorian 

Watch Joni's speech.

On behalf of all the graduating class and faculty of the University of Houston’s Paralegal Course, let me welcome all of our families and friends.  We are all very happy you came to celebrate this occasion with us because I know each of you helped to get us where we are.

My daughter Erica encouraged me constantly no matter how tired I was.  She actively looked for opportunities to help and cheerfully volunteered her assistance in any way from printing off papers and driving them over to my house because my printer broke to driving over to the vet’s office to pick up medicine because I didn’t have the time.  I wouldn’t have had food in the house or clean towels or a vacuumed floor if my son hadn’t taken over for me.  My friend, Jennifer, was my never-ending cheering section, always ready with her support and encouragement.  She made a whole bunch of frozen dinners for me before class started so I didn’t have to worry about cooking anything.   My assistant Traci, never said have a good weekend because she didn’t want to remind me that I didn’t HAVE a weekend.

The point of my personal stories is to show examples of what I know each of our families and friends were doing for us.  Each one of you out there picked up the slack, showed understanding, had extra patience—whatever it took.  You all made those sacrifices to help us get through this and we sincerely appreciate it.

I would also like to say congratulations to each and every member of my class.  I am very, very proud of you because I know what you went through and what it took to get here.  This is quite an accomplishment.

The first morning Jac explained to us how the grading system worked.  If you got an “A”, you didn’t have to take the final.  If you got a “B”, you got your name on the board, and if you got a “70” then you passed.  Then we got started with class.  I remember thinking when we started that I won’t have to take the final, piece of cake.  By the mid-morning break, I’m thinking I’m pretty sure I can get my name on the board, piece of cake.  By lunchtime, I’m thinking a 70 really isn’t so bad, I should be able to pass.  I hope?  Lots of sleepless nights later, here we are.

I’ll remember each of you though and I’ll miss looking across the room at y’all every Saturday and Sunday.  So, in honor of one last time to go around the room, I’ll start with Namrata.

Namrata is impressive.  This class put a lot of emphasis on choosing, understanding, and communicating by using the right word and English is Namrata’s second language.  Namrata certainly showed her mastery of English and this class by staying about the “A” line every single week without fail.

Lydia is the quiet one who just gets the job done.  She was always calm, cool, and collected.  Lydia reminds me of the saying, “Never let them see you sweat.”

Jamie had legal experience coming into our class and she was always glad to share what she knew with anyone.

Christina is perseverance at its best.  Christina was determined that this class wasn’t going to get the best of her and it didn’t. 

Beth always had a smile for each of us.  Beth had a kind word for everyone.  She was always positive, encouraging, and ready to help anybody.

Raymond gave the best oral reports.  You could just tell from his reports that he thoroughly enjoyed learning new things and that he was enthusiastic about sharing it with everybody.

Kelvin, nobody is as smoooooth as Kelvin.  Kelvin is definitely the charmer of the class.  No matter how much Jac ripped apart his homework at midweek or his question, he would just put on the best smile and offer the smoothest excuse.

Jerry, no one will forget your “I’m not lying” shirt on the witness stand, your Red Bull, and how you always made us laugh.  Jerry has a gift for quick wit.  He can fire off the jokes and he can take the jokes right back with the same great sense of humor.

Eduardo, you were pretty low key and you were a great straight man for Jerry’s jokes.  You reminded me of Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption.  You just kept your head down and did your job until you had the last laugh and got your name on the board.

Rose, I’ll never forget your tenacity.  A lesser person might have given up--because Jac can be intimidating--but Rose didn’t let that stop her.  She braved the storm to keep asking questions until Rose was satisfied with the answer.

For Deanna I need to explain that we were very fortunate to have many wonderful speakers throughout the program and Jac always wanted us to ask questions to show them we appreciated their coming to speak to us and to show that we were interested in what they had to say.  The only problem was most of the time the speakers were so good, it was hard to think of something they didn’t already cover.  We could always count on Deanna to bail us out with some great questions.

Connie is a role model for upcoming classes.  She worked so hard every class with the goal of getting her name on the board.  Once that happened, she didn’t stop.  She kept working just as hard toward an “A” so she didn’t have to take the final.  She got that “A” on the very last weekend before the exam.

Jason was totally dedicated to the class.  He plays in a band and you know that comes with a lot of late nights and hauling equipment around to all hours of the night.  There were times when Jason came to class after a gig the night before with maybe an hour’s sleep.  He never missed a class and he was on the board.

Nicole is our change of career person with a lot of go get’em enthusiasm.  She has lots of retail experience and she wasn’t intimidated at all about jumping in and trying a field that was totally new and foreign to her.

And Matt—Matt and I work together so it’s been like 24/7 togetherness for us and yet we are still speaking to each other.  We even have lunch plans scheduled for next week.  We decided to take the course together because we knew something this intense was going to be brutal.  I think we couldn’t have made a better decision.  We supported each other and we inspired each other to do our very best.

Finally, on behalf of the graduating class, I would like to extend our sincere thanks and appreciation to Jac Brennan, our instructor.  In spite of her toughness and in spite of the times we would sit there and cringe while she graded homework--cause you could just hear that pen scrawling across the paper and you’d just sit there and think, “Oh please, please, please don’t be my homework!”—we knew that this is a person who cares deeply about her students and wants us to be the best paralegals we can be.  Where else have you ever had a teacher who opened her home every week to go over the homework so we had a chance to learn from our mistakes first before we turned it in?  Where else can you find a teacher who will count an answer wrong because you said “prevent” instead of “prohibit” –and you counted two of my answers wrong on the first test because of that – to teach you that the meaning of words is important, even right down to the shades and nuances of meanings.  She told us yesterday that she absolutely loves her job and it shows.  Thank you, Jac, for your commitment to excellence.   Thank you to all our friends and families.  

Joni Ries

Salutatorian