Every day, a Herculean effort occurs to deliver the varied services PESA offers, from support of the Teen Court program to providing educational tutoring and mental-health counseling for students. An indispensable part of the team who make that possible is college interns pursuing degrees in social work and law.
While we draw students from schools throughout the area, we have an especially strong relationship with Loyola Marymount University. With a dedicated campus PESA-LMU Club, some of our best and brightest come from there, including Simona Vishnevsky, who has been a member since her freshman year and served as vice president of off-campus operations. Those operations include training members to serve as proctors for Teen Court sessions in nearby schools.
Next month, Vishnevsky will earn not one but two bachelor's degrees in political science and psychology as well as a minor in peace and justice studies. From there, she’ll be headed straight into Loyola Law School in the fall, where she’ll pursue a Juris Doctor degree with a focus on immigration law and advocacy. “I was born and raised in Los Angeles after my family came to the United States in 1989 as refugees fleeing religious persecution from the former Soviet Union,” says Vishnevsky. “Their journey of escaping antisemitism and acclimating to a new home is what has inspired my passion for becoming an immigration attorney.”
Now, as president of PESA-LMU, she oversees all club activities and is also a staffer with PESA. In that capacity, Vishnevsky has expanded club member activities to focus on tutoring for students and developing educational programs that are made available to middle school and high school educators and their classes.
“I have always been interested in hands-on learning, and PESA provides that for its interns,” says Vishnevsky. “It’s one thing to read about it in a textbook and another thing to get out there and do it.”
If anyone can "get out there and do it,” it’s this young woman. “After graduating from law school, I plan to begin my career as a licensed attorney at an immigration law firm,” says Vishnevsy. “I hope to continue working with clients pursuing O-1 visas, specifically in the fields of business, entertainment and the arts. In addition, I am interested in asylum and deportation defense and helping victims of crime obtain legal statuses.
Eventually, Vishnevsky hopes to start her own firm, “to provide services that assist [people] with obtaining nonimmigrant and immigrant visas” and become a professor. “I plan on teaching immigration law at the undergraduate or law school level. I also aspire to engage in pro bono work for asylum seekers and even create programs and opportunities for other attorneys and law students to give back.”
Can you tell why we’re proud to have her on the PESA team? ■
If you’d like to support PESA’s many social and educational initiatives, please contact us.