Student Turns Opportunity into Action

An outspoken kid in high school, Tyler Smith ’08 started forming and substantiating his political opinions early on. Now headed into his senior year, he has refined his ideas and turned them into action.

“Dickinson has opened my eyes and exposed me to different viewpoints to explore things,” says Smith, who received John Dickinson and Engage the World scholarships.

The John Dickinson scholarship provides $60,000 for top-notch students’ tuition during their four-year careers at Dickinson, and Engage the World fellows receive $3,000 to support an internship, service, research or immersion program.

“Before I took philosophy classes, I wasn’t thinking about things as in-depth as I could have. Philosophy teaches you to think” and question your assumptions.

The philosophy and political-science double major tries to “refrain from making judgments without facts,” he says, which is particularly useful for his work with Student Senate and his ambition to attend law school.

“I did a lot of student-council activities in high school,” says Smith, “and I applied to be a senator for the spring 2007 semester [at Dickinson]. I served on the finance committee and I have been approached to be the sergeant at arms for next semester.”

Smith says that the Student Senate has reviewed many resolutions dealing with everything from meal plans to recommendations for new study-abroad programs.

“Next year,” he says, “I want to integrate the Dickinson Law Society into Student Senate. A lot of students are interested in law school but do not know how to prepare for it. I want to help them by revitalizing the Law Society and making it more active.”

On campus, Smith also is active as a Writing Center tutor, a member of Scroll and Key and a three-year varsity soccer player. He will not play soccer during his senior year so he can focus on applying to law school.

Smith has seized internship opportunities that have afforded him insight into the legal process. In summer 2006, Smith interned for Judge Linda K. M. Ludgate at the Berks County courthouse, and he was able to sit in on trials.

“I got to see the technical side of the law,” Smith says. “I saw how lawyers prepared their cases, selected a jury and conducted sidebar arguments.

“This summer, I am interning at the National Whistleblower Center in Washington, D.C., and its affiliate, Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto, LLP, which takes on the cases that the center coordinates.”

The National Whistleblower Center is a nonprofit organization that aids governmental and corporate whistleblowers—people who are or were employed within an organization, have knowledge of wrongdoing and are seeking appropriate actions to correct the situation. The center ensures that whistleblowers are protected and that their allegations are heard.

Smith is working with a lawyer on a specific case, “doing research and learning about the preparation process.”

The Career Center helped Smith find and apply for the internship. “Dickinson got my resumé and my transcript to the office and made the process easy,” he says. “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the Career Center.”

Smith doesn’t take his good fortune for granted. When the Indian Ocean earthquake erupted in December 2004, some Engage the World scholars decided to band together and use their scholarship for a humanitarian trip to Khammam, India.

Through Habitat for Humanity, Smith and more than 10 Dickinson students, several of whom were Engage the World scholars, traveled to the devastated area in June 2005 and worked on construction sites.

“We helped four families that had been displaced establish homes,” he says. “One house we built nearly to completion, we built the foundation on another house and we attended a dedication ceremony.”

Smith has taken advantage of many opportunities at Dickinson to improve himself and the world around him. “I saw Dickinson as an opportunity to bloom,” Smith says.

“Here, you’re not a number—you know your professors, you know everyone around you and you feel connected. I like being a part of a small, intellectual community.”

By Alicia LeBlanc