As Daniel Pollack, 23, heads off to Pennsylvania University law school this fall, he takes with him a wealth of experience that jumps all over the map.
Pollack, a 2009 graduate of Queens College, has interned at Brafman and Associates, P.C., in New York City, worked in a U.S. Senator’s office in Washington D.C., and volunteered as a teacher in Kenya.
And, just last month he completed his internship at the United State Supreme Court –one of only two students throughout the country to be chosen.
“If it’s something you want – just do it,” Pollack said, during a recent interview with The Queens Courier.
The internship program provided students interested in law, management and the social sciences an opportunity to work in the Office of the Counselor to the Chief Justice.
“You really are immersed in the legal world, and it really was beneficial to me,” Pollack said. “I feel like I learned a lot. I was really familiarized with the law.”
During the internship, Pollack performed important tasks like preparing memoranda and correspondence, and conducting background research for speeches and briefings provided to visiting dignitaries in D.C.
Fortunately for Pollack, he was familiar with the D.C. area prior to his judicial internship, because he interned for North Carolina Senator Richard Burr in the summer of 2008. He found out about the judicial internship while working for Senator Burr, but he was hesitant about applying because of how competitive the program seemed.
Pollack said he didn’t want to waste his time if he wasn’t going to get in, but Queens College Associate Professor Julie George encouraged him to try regardless.
“He had some interesting life experiences and an obvious sense of thinking outside the box,” George said.
Pollack credited George and other Queens College teachers for giving him background information about D.C.
“I found [their insight] to be helpful with both my internships in Washington,” he said.
Before going to D.C., Pollack volunteered to teach at St. Juliet’s elementary school in the Kiberian slum of Nairobi, Kenya, the largest slum in Africa. He volunteered in the spring semester of 2007 through the Global volunteer network. While in Kenya, he taught the children history, science, math, English and AIDS prevention.
Pollack was moved by how children from impoverished communities found a way to be happy, even knowing their situation could have been better. He said it was a sharp contrast from others that he saw who had a lot but were still unhappy.
“These kids taught me to be happy in life but never be content. It’s a powerful lesson this experience has taught me,” he said.
So much so that Pollack raised $6,000 to contribute to St. Juliet’s when he returned to Kiberia during winter break. He collected the money from friends and family, and he even asked some friends to help him sell candy in school.
“It wasn’t a lot of money in the grander scheme of things,” he said. “But I wanted to do something for the kids.”
