Last week, an Elizabethton High School junior traveled to Washington, D.C., for an exclusive audience with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Deamion Davis was one of 40 students from across the country selected in an essay contest to attend the ninth annual Supreme Court Law Day.

Attending students observed a private courtroom lecture at the Supreme Court as well as a private meeting with Justice Ginsberg, the second woman appointed to the Supreme Court.

“What she taught us is that if we put our mind to something, we can basically do whatever we want in the law field,” Davis said. “She was talking about how there were setbacks for her because she is a woman. When she went into it, they didn’t really let women into law. She talked about her setbacks and how she overcame them. It was inspiring to think that I can go somewhere in life and actually be someone.”

Supreme Court Law Day is hosted by Just the Beginning – A Pipeline Organization which seeks to support and diversify the next generation of lawyers and leaders. This is Davis’ dream — to be a lawyer. To make that a reality, he has been researching the process of becoming a lawyer and going to different places to study what an attorney does.

During the summer, he was accepted to a one-week Summer Legal Program in Indianapolis at the Robert H. McKinney School of Law: Indiana University. There, he participated in interactive sessions developing skills like critical thinking, legal literacy, professional etiquette, financial literacy and public speaking.

Davis first took an interest in law in his Law and Legal Issues courses at EHS. He has also taken criminal justice courses and pursued opportunities with state and national organizations. Through his research and applications to different programs, he has gotten a realistic understanding of what a career as a lawyer will be like.

“That has helped me meet real judges and have real life experiences, and that makes me unique,” he said, adding that these experiences will benefit him in the college application process.

“Right now, my goal is to get good grades to build a path into a prestigious college,” he said. “…After that I will go to law school and then hopefully will get accepted into a firm and then build up my equity in the firm and become a big part of it. I’m mostly looking into contract work.”

Davis’ mother supports his ambitions by helping him research opportunities for in-the-field experience. “I want him to stay busy in something he really loves,” she said. “There are a lot of steps to get accepted to these programs, so I’m really proud of him.”