Student from UNAM’s School of Law will virtually pursue an internship at UNAM-Boston

Given the current social distancing policies caused by Covid-19 and with the interest of fomenting that UNAM students get their degree promptly. The Head Office of UNAM at Boston in coordination with the Law Faculty, adapted the option for getting a degree through professional practices working with Head Offices of UNAM abroad so that outstanding alumni can benefit from the project using distance modality. The participants of this convening will bring in the knowledge acquired through-out the career contributing to UNAM-Boston endeavors, from home, and will have the option to have a complementary stay at Boston that allows them to live an international academic experience when the health conditions allow them to do so. 

Montserrat Altamirano, distinguished student of the Law Faculty, is the first student of the University to participate in this initiative. Montserrat shares with the UNAM community a report on what it has meant for her to have studied at our Highest House of Studies, being able to be its ambassador during her academic stay in Amsterdam, as well as with her expectations of joining the team of the representation of the University of the Nation in New England.

“To engage in my professional practices at UNAM-Boston Head Office is the most adequate way to end up my formation as a lawyer. Saying that something is “adequate” for one self can seem the easiest thing in the world, but it can be the hardest if you do not have self-knowledge. Today I have clear knowledge of who I am, I know my passions, interests, fears, limitations, creative power, values, the causes of my happiness and more. Without a doubt, UNAM helped me to acquire this knowledge, I entered it being a completely different person from the one who graduates, the Law School and UNAM formed me not only on an academic level, and greatly done, but also on a personal level, they provided me with the most formative experiences of my life. 

Now, that I visualize the termination of my studies, at least for the moment, I see with amazement the journey taken: the first semesters of getting adapted, of being part of groups of 80 people with such varied personalities and interests, from all social classes and States of the country, entering into a classroom where the diversity of “my Mexico” was reflected and palpable; forming part of its volleyball team, getting to know the facilities, discovering my favourite cafeterias to read and do homework; that year in which my weekends became mixed up with the week and that international cases of more than 100 pages that seem everlasting finally reached their end, a high demanding preparation that culminated in front of a panel of judges in a foreign country, that road, where I fell and got up and at the end I was congratulated and received an external applause that was in accordance with the one I was giving to myself internally, I had given it all, the International Criminal Court Contest 2015 was over. Now, that I reach the end, I remember affectionately the hardest subjects, the professors that represented a challenge: Pedro Salazar, Popoca, Baylón, Juan Manuel Saldaña Pérez, Ochoa Reza, Gustavo Cázares García, among others. And I work day by day, so that in the lists made by future students there will be female names. I think of all that I lived in those 5 years and how it was all vital for my development, I also lived frustrations, bureaucracy and apathy, that made me see and feel closely how much there is to do. Later, my entry into working life, once more with the preparation that my Faculty was giving me, sleepless nights, trying to find more hours in a day than the ones it has, enjoying being part of relevant cases as far as national cases, the cups of coffee, the first filings, the subway, Copilco, eating during the day just a salad because “there was time only for that”, legal-intern adventures, partner's congratulations, physical and mental exhaustion, a good salary, having to choose between one path or another, between being one or another person. 

Finally, the new, the loss of everything for the construction of the new, one plane two suitcases, a lot of expectations that turned out to be lesser from what the reality brought, true friendship, awareness and love for Law, finding out about Investment Arbitration, dedication, work, reading, 4 hour exams, living abroad, to state and claim a position in English, riding a bike towards school, getting to know professors involved in Brexit, entering in first world offices… Simply, my exchange to Amsterdam has no summaries, it was a before and an after, it meant to stop thinking in a limited manner, it was acquiring the perspective of infinite possibilities both social and personal. And now… 

Once more, UNAM is inviting me to grow, embracing me in its headquarters in Boston, asking me to keep learning, to keep searching, to allow my curiosity to flow, to help, to be empathic, to read, to be informed, to be more objective. Once more my dear University is asking me to believe in myself and implement my knowledge, it is asking me to be certain of the voice it has helped me build, it is asking me to use it to help others. Once again UNAM adapts itself for what the society needs, as it did in 68 when our Headmaster marched in front of the students. 

UNAM in the current times is still a factor of change, of improvement, it still is a criteria creator. 

Forefront Covid 19 pandemic that exposes our fragility and our human strength, is inviting us to debate online, to participate in “tertulias”, it brings to light topics such as “Binational students” “The Mayan Train” “Feminism”, topics of relevance, it gives them voice, keeps them alive, give us the opportunity for change, for discussion, and more important, for action. In words of José Vasconcelos “We must have the conviction that our race will elaborate a culture of new tendencies, of spiritual and free essence”.

It is an honor for me to officially initiate my professional practices, I reiterate my support and gratitude to UNAM, to UNAM-Boston Head Offices and to my Law Faculty. 

"The people to the University and the University to the people"