Hailing from Oak Cliff, social activist and aspiring lawyer Kenedi Houston graduated in 2020 from the Judge Barefoot Sanders Law Magnet and later earned a degree in Political Communications from UT Austin, graduating last December. During her time at UT and before attending, Kenedi engaged in various public service and community-focused endeavors. These included interning for Law Magnet alum and Texas House Representative Victoria Neave, handling public relations for UT’s National Black Student Lawyers Association chapter, participating in grassroots organizing for the women’s political empowerment organization Ignite, and being an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. From the moment I met Kenedi this past September, I knew she would make an outstanding alumna to feature. Recently, we reconnected to reflect on her experiences at the Law Magnet and UT, as well as to share some insights on being a social advocate. Here are her reflections:
What skills or knowledge did you learn throughout your time at the Law Magnet that you found most useful in your career?
“The Law Magnet’s Motto: Read, Write, and Think, is definitely still relevant to me.
[Political] Communications is a reading, writing, and thinking major…they’re really digging into what your thought patterns are and like, how you analyze the readings that we get from our professors. So, [on] the track that I was on I had to take a speech class. I had to take classes on how the media impacts, public perception of politics…So that’s like the broad work of what my major consisted of, but, I was already doing that in, like, mock trial or debate or research and seminar. So I would say all my Law Magnet classes prepared me well.”
What did you enjoy the most about your experience at the Law Magnet?
“I love the people at the Law Magnet. I love how close-knit, we were as a Law Magnet family because when you go to a big school, like UT, you could be in a class of 100 people, and especially with, like, Zoom University, none of our professors know us intimately. We kind of build that [intimate] relationship with the Law Magnet professors. And being a part of so many clubs that…bind us together, so we can have fun, but also we can get serious in our academic journey as well.”
Do you have any advice for students navigating the college admissions process?
“GET THOSE APPLICATIONS IN! Don’t procrastinate, and don’t have imposter syndrome. Be confident, make sure schools are a good fit for you.”
Why did you choose UT?
“I will say the easy answer is because I was not going to be in debt. I [also] knew a lot of people going to UT from Townview. That kind of sealed my decision as well. I especially wanted [to go] somewhere that was far enough from home that it wasn’t, like, too close, but, close enough that if there was an emergency, my mom or any of my family could come and so, UT Austin, was just the perfect place for me, and they had a really good communication school.”
What inspired your grassroots social activism?
“I think it started when I went to Irma Rangel, a leadership school for all girls. We were talking about standing up [for] world causes we were passionate about. I got really into girls’ education…so finding my voice in debate club in eighth grade and then starting Spanish in seventh grade, I found that those were two avenues [through] which I could reach other people with my ideas, and even if we had different ideas or different backgrounds, it was a place where we could talk about those differences and [create] a safe space. In 2016 when I got to the Law Magnet, I joined Ignite. It’s a women’s political empowerment club, and we had college students from SMU come every Monday [where] we would talk about civic education, voting, different policies we could advocate for, and we learned how we could use our voices.”
Kenedi aspires to become an attorney and plans to apply to law school next August. In the meantime, she remains actively engaged in community work.
You can connect with Kenedi on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenedi-houston/ or follow her on Instagram @gracefullykenedi
