Living on her own. Taking college courses in English, economics, history, political science, and Spanish. Holding down two jobs. Tending a little cousin on Fridays and holidays. Providing emergency mediation services at schools after racial clashes. Somehow finding time to study and sleep.
That sounds like enough to fill two ordinary lives, but for UMass
Boston sophomore Kenisha Stewart it's typical. On March 10 her busy
schedule will get busier still when she heads downtown to the Westin
Hotel to receive the 1999 Youth Award of the National Conference for
Community and Justice (NCCJ). The award recognizes "outstanding
leadership and commitment to improving intergroup relations between
people of different backgrounds in their communities."
Stewart, now 20, first got interested in mediation through the SCORE
program at Boston English High. SCORE, which is overseen by the
Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, uses trained students to
mediate conflicts among their peers. Stewart handled more disputes
than any other student, became one of SCORE's most trusted mediators,
and built a reputation as an eloquent spokesperson for mediation as a
successful alternative to violence.
Former Attorney General Scott Harshbarger took notice. "I came to
know and respect her perseverance and her commitment to making a
difference in the lives of her peers," he said in nominating Stewart
for the NCCJ award. After she graduated from English, she joined
Harshbarger's office as an intern, working on the Safe Neighborhood
Initiative, serving as a member of the Child Labor Task Force, and
also joining the statewide Conflict Intervention Team. Now, between
classes, she's an investigator in the office's Unemployment Fraud
Division - - and on weekends she holds another job as an undercover
store detective. Along the way, she's also been a peer leader at the
Roxbury Health Center and an HIV/AIDS counselor at the Codman Square
Health Center.
In Stewart's other life she's a full-time student in the College of
Arts and Sciences, majoring in criminal justice and considering a
minor in psychology. "It really interests me to see how differently
people think from one another," she says. As for the law, it has
attracted her since childhood, when courtroom dramas glued her to the
TV screen. Now she knows that "it's not like that in real life," but
she's still fascinated, especially when attorneys use their legal and
mediation skills "to help someone who was obviously violated by
someone else."
After UMass Boston Stewart wants to go into juvenile probation work,
and at the same time to attend law school, with a prosecution career
in mind. "That's the side of the law I've been seeing," she says. If
she were on the other side, she "would feel uncomfortable defending
certain types of cases," such as cases of child molestation or
murder. "I just love working with people," she adds. "I love working
with people to the point where I can actually help them. And that's
why I've always felt that I would rather stay in the public sector. I
know the money's in the private sector, but I'd prefer to work in the
public sector because I'd have more influence on people."
How does Kenisha Stewart achieve what she does? "You can do anything
you want if you have good time management," she says. Once in a while
she reaches a point where she's "just completely burnt out," but then
she tells herself "I've just got to keep dealing with it - - and keep
pushing."
And she has somewhere to go. "I have a lot of high goals," she says.
"In middle school I wanted to be a probation officer. In high school
I wanted to be a lawyer. Now that I'm in college I have the goal of
becoming a judge. So it seems like the higher I go in education the
higher I start shooting for."
- - By Jeffrey Mitchell