To grow into a vital and productive member of society, young people need to identify and embark on a viable career path. That may sound like a no-brainer statement, but for a young person navigating myriad challenges of the modern world—rapidly changing economies, emerging (and vanishing) technologies, the skyrocketing cost of advanced education, entering a competitive job market out of a socio-economically disadvantaged school system—it’s not quite so simple.
That’s why PESA created its Distinguished Speakers Series, in which guests from a range of endeavors speak with students to offer real-world insights on their field, its potentials and pitfalls, educational requirements and more. Speakers have ranged from judges to journalists and athletic coaches to auto mechanics.
One such recent speaker was Judge David S. Wesley (ret.), who had a virtual chat with students at Downey High School about his journey to becoming a judge and how it led him to found the Los Angeles Superior Court Teen Court program that now bears his name.
During the presentation, Judge Wesley went back to his roots to make a relatable case for why becoming a judge is not such a lofty and unattainable goal. After all, he explained, as the son of a butcher, he attended a predominantly African American middle school where, being in the minority, he experienced his share of bullying; enlisted in the Marines where, as the only Jewish soldier in his unit, he again was the odd man out (“At only 5’9”, they made me the dummy in hand-to-hand combat training,” he said); and was the first in his family to make it to grad school—and he worked for his dad throughout law school.