{"id":641,"date":"2011-09-23T20:55:17","date_gmt":"2011-09-23T20:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/?p=641"},"modified":"2011-09-23T20:55:17","modified_gmt":"2011-09-23T20:55:17","slug":"judge-karen-shares-life-experiences-at-constitution-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/2011\/09\/23\/judge-karen-shares-life-experiences-at-constitution-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Karen shares life experiences at Constitution Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Members of MADDRAMA join Judge Karen Mills-Francis, (second from left).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

De\u2019Arbreya Lee<\/strong>
\nStaff Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n

In her book, \u201cStay in Your Lane: Judge Karen\u2019s Guide to Living Your Best Life\u201d, Judge KarenMills-Francis pulls from experiences in the courtroom and from her personal life, giving advice on surrounding of life, love, and the many universal connections that all humans share. From the stories in her book, Mills-Francis offers readers advice to direct her audience towards physical, emotional, spiritual and social positivity.<\/p>\n

Mills-Francis shared these experiences and her knowledge of the legal system with students at Jackson State University as a part of university\u2019s seventh year celebration of \u201cConstitution Day\u201d on September 15 in the Rose E. McCoy auditorium.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that it\u2019s important for everybody, each one of us as a U.S. citizen to know our legal rights,\u201d said Mills-Francis. She said that is bothers her to know that people do not exercise these rights. \u201cI think that it\u2019s important for people to know that they have these rights because the constitution protects our individual freedoms and if you\u2019re not exercising these rights then you\u2019re not living up to the spirit and letter of the constitution,\u201d said Mills-Francis.<\/p>\n

LeMaudia Strahan, a freshman criminal justice major from Ridgeland, Miss., said that she gained insight in her field from Mills-Francis\u2019 visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a criminal justice major, it influenced me to go further with my criminal justice career instead of just staying on the surface,\u201d said Strahan.<\/p>\n

Ebony Lazare, a freshman psychology major from Opelousas, La., said that she also enjoyed the message from Mills-Francis\u2019 speech. \u201cShe also stressed that it doesn\u2019t matter where you come from, you\u2019re person that determines your future. She didn\u2019t try to hide anything from her past. That\u2019s the best way to get through to someone by giving advice from a personal perspective,\u201d said Lazare.<\/p>\n

During former president George W. Bush\u2019s term in office, it became a requirement by Congress that every federally-funded school create educational programs that bring awareness of the history and signing of the constitution on June 21, 1788. On December 8, 2004, President Bush signed a bill that designated September 17 (or any day around this date should the 17th fall on a weekend), as \u201cConstitution Day\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re kind of taking it up to a higher level so we can get a little bit more student involvement and student feedback about celebrating The Constitution by having individuals that have been trailblazers in their different professions and careers\u201d, said Edwin H. Quinn, Dean of Student Life.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to find someone that has exhibited qualities that are unique, being the first in that particular field, similar to The Constitution, the birth of our nation, the first big experience in Democracy as people call it\u201d, he added, and with Judge Karen, they found a match.<\/p>\n

Mills-Francis, born and raised in Miami, Fla., attended Bowdoin College in Maine for her undergraduate education, and attended Levin School of Law at the University of Florida where she graduated in 1987. She severed in the Office of the Public Defender in Miami for 13 years in criminal defense law and soon became certified as a family court mediator.<\/p>\n

When she was 27 years old, an 11-year-old boy walked into her courtroom and into her life, becoming the first of the few children that she would become a foster mother to.<\/p>\n

According to her website www.judgekarenscourttv.com, Mills-Francis has become known as a passionate supporter of children\u2019s advocacy programs and domestic violence prevention programs and regularly calls on lawyers to act on behalf of children in crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer personal story, her personal experiences, her trials and tribulations that she actually endured really helps to bring in that whole holistic education here at Jackson State\u201d, said Quinn.<\/p>\n

A woman of many achievements, Mills-Francis became the second black woman to serve as a judge in Miami-Dade County in 2000. During her two terms as county judge, Mills-Francis stuck to her mission of helping those at risk who become lost in the legal system. Constantly at work, Mills-Francis conducts lectures across the country on family issues, targeting the concerns of women and children and profiles missing children on her Facebook page.<\/p>\n

\u201cI invite you to be what you want to be,\u201d said Mills-Francis, in her encouragement for students to explore there options in life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI invited you not to park. There\u2019s so much more to life than those things,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Mills-Francis also stressed the importance of prospering (financially) in outside countries and the lack of African American participation in this line of work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI read that 8% of Americans work for foreign service are African-American,\u201d said Mills-Francis.
\nGabrielle Barrow, a senior English major from San Francisco, Calif., said, \u201cI thought she was amazing. She made me think about other paths than just being a lawyer. I felt that her information was very inspiring and gave me a different outlook on life, especially the many options that I have.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

De\u2019Arbreya Lee Staff Writer In her book, \u201cStay in Your Lane: Judge Karen\u2019s Guide to Living Your Best Life\u201d, Judge KarenMills-Francis pulls from experiences in the courtroom and from her personal life, giving advice on surrounding of life, love, and the many universal connections that all humans share. From the stories in her book, Mills-Francis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-641","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-campus-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}