Attending the Rose Scholars sit down with Judge Scott Miller was one of the highlights of my week. Going in, I wondered what I could expect to hear from a judge for an hour. Rather than simply rattling off information or other uninteresting aspects of his job or the court system, Judge Miller took the interview in a different direction and incited several emotions in me that I didn’t expect to feel last night.

First, he did make some jokes and showed us the 9 and ¾ decal on his inner chambers’ door and how he used it once to connect to a child that he had to make a custody determination on in a bench trial. Considering I want to be a lawyer in the future, it makes me hopeful I can also break the stereotypes of law being boring and uninteresting.

Then Judge Miller explained his life story and how he got into the legal field at such a young age and how he has a connection to many of the children he makes determinations on. I empathize with the fact that Judge Miller explained that Cornell was the first stable community he had growing up when he attended college here. I also grew up in a divorced family and never lived in one place consistently during my childhood until I arrived on campus. I hope that everyone else who attended or viewed the recording enjoys it as much as I did.