Since she was a little girl, Rebecca Harris knew she wanted to work in the criminal justice field. At first she wanted to be a lawyer, but her interests are constantly growing. One of Rebecca’s favorite subjects in school was government. She realized this when she took a Civics course in middle school. It became her favorite class. Not only did school influence her interest, but her mother also encouraged her. “Me and my mom, some summers we would go to the court buildings and we would 
listen to cases,” Rebecca said. “She would take me and kind of help me get a feel for what I’d be doing or the environment that I’d be in.” Rebecca credits these experiences as being helpful for her development and influencing her to want to learn even more about the criminal justice field.
This fall, Rebecca started attending Norfolk State University where she is majoring in political science. Not only did Rebecca choose Norfolk State because of the financial package they offered her, but because it is an HBCU, had her major and is close to home. As of now, Rebecca isn’t sure what jobs she will pursue after graduation, but she does know she wants to work for the government. She hopes internships will help her make decisions. Another factor in choosing her future career is her love for music. In high school, Rebecca’s favorite pastime was participating with her marching band. Norfolk State’s talented marching band has encouraged her to look for ways to incorporate both her love for political science and music.
Besides her love for music, Rebecca also enjoys writing poetry and spoken word. When she was in high school, Rebecca had the opportunity to give back to the community through volunteer work. She volunteered at First Baptist Church with praise dancing, singing, ushering and serving food. She volunteered at an elderly center where she helped feed the elderly, get them their medication and played games with them such as Bingo. Rebecca stayed active with extracurricular organizations such as Young Life, Key Club, FBLA, Honor Council, National Honor Society, Tri-M Music National Honor Society, and she was the vice president of the Spanish Club. She also worked for the Richmond Police Department as a Mayor’s Youth Academy Intern. With all of these extracurricular activities, Rebecca worked hard academically and graduated with a 4.1 GPA.
Rebecca plans to continue this hard work as she strives to fulfill her long-time goal of working in the criminal justice or political science field. She said she is more focused on studying and preparing herself for the future instead of partying during her time in college. “I’m just looking forward to preparing myself for the future,” Rebecca said.
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