Alumni Spotlight: UGA food science student to attend UGA School of Law
Emily Harris
by Lillian Dickens
When a person hears “food science” or “agriculture,” “law school” is usually not their next thought. It is, however, for Emily Harris. Harris is a third-year food science and technology major in the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and plans to attend the UGA School of Law to pursue a degree in food regulation and law this fall.
This is a unique path for a student in the Department of Food Science and Technology, but a needed one in an ever-changing food industry. We recently caught up with Emily to ask about her journey getting into law school and what that means to her as a CAES student.
Where did your interest in food law come from?
“I came in as a pharmaceutical sciences major and thought I was going to do cancer research in a lab, but soon realized that to be successful in that field I was going to be on the bottom of the totem pole for a while. Pharmaceuticals just weren't for me. I changed to food science after about two or three months at UGA and talking it over with my parents. Food Safety has always been a topic of conversation in our home, and my dad and I had a long conversation about how people in the agricultural industry need people who have food safety knowledge. They need them on farms doing inspections, among other things, and there's a shortage of people in agriculture that also know about food safety. From there, I changed my major to food science and fell in love with it. During my sophomore year, I was doing an internship with Athens Chick-fil-A and taking the Governmental Regulation of Food Safety and Quality class with Dr. Critzer, and I was like, ‘Okay, food law is my jam.’ It was a natural progression of my learning set.”
What was the process of applying to law school like as a CAES student?
“I didn't take the traditional route to law school. I applied through the UGA Scholars Program. In this program you don’t have to take the LSAT. they take your SAT or ACT scores from high school – which was interesting in my application group because with COVID, a lot of students didn’t have to do that for their college applications. I submitted my SAT score, my GPA, and then you do all the other normal requirements for law school, like the personal statement and the diversity statement. There was an extra letter that I wrote that asked me to tell more why I was interested in law that wasn't covered in your personal statement or diversity. I brought up a lot about being from a rural area, being a STEM major because that’s not a normal background for someone going into law. Normally, you really only need to do the personal statement, but because my situation was so different, I made sure to go the extra mile.”
What does it mean for you to go from being a CAES student to now going to UGA Law School?
“It means a lot. As far as I know, there's only one other student in the whole law school who came from CAES. There's 600 students in the law school, and I'm going to be one of two. That's less than half a percent. It means that I can not only influence others, but I can show people that it is possible to do something amazing with a degree in agriculture. There's a common misconception that you have to be a farmer with an agriculture degree, and it’s just not true. Even though I grew up on a farm, I have never thought that that is where I have to go back to just because I have a degree from CAES. It feels great knowing that there are opportunities outside of our college for further education, and I'm glad that I get to be one of the students that shows other people that this is a possibility. It may be harder for us because we don’t have the ‘traditional' background, like political science, history or English. It also gives us uniqueness because we aren't traditional, and we can bring a different perspective to the law school.”
What are some of your goals in law school and going forward after law school?
“I hope to get a lot of experience outside of the classroom. Similar to an undergraduate degree, you will have the opportunity to do internships and externships. During the summers, I'm hoping to intern at food companies to get some experience. I know Land O’Lakes and Hershey have multiple legal internships where you have to be in law school to apply for them. After law school, who knows? I like a lot of different types of food law like foodborne illness and food safety law. I think it's going to be the internships I get in the next coming years that are going to help narrow my focus. My options are endless, and I’m just along for the ride.”