As we transition to the new year, there is so much to reflect on in our past year, 2025. The month of December was a particularly eventful one for me! The month started with 1L finals and ended with a break to visit family and friends. It was a time to reset and reflect after facing one of the biggest challenges I have ever encountered.
Your first round of 1L finals is an experience unlike anything else. It’s intense, overwhelming, exhausting, yet strangely rewarding all at once. I have never felt more stressed, but I have also never felt more proud of myself for seeing something through to the end. Months of reading, outlining, briefing, and questioning myself all culminated in a single exam for each class, and the weight of that reality is something you truly can’t understand until you’re living it.
For nearly a month, I worked toward one goal. In a world that constantly pulls your attention in a million different directions, that kind of singular focus is surprisingly fulfilling. There’s something powerful about committing yourself fully to the process, even when you’re unsure of how things will turn out.
One of the biggest lessons finals taught me was how much you learn without realizing it. Throughout the semester, it’s easy to feel lost, like you don’t fully grasp the material or that you’re constantly behind. Law school doesn’t give you many opportunities to “test” yourself along the way, so confidence can feel elusive. Finals often make up nearly 100% of your grade. There’s also something special about spending months deeply engaged with a single subject. You don’t realize how much growth happens in that time until you pause long enough to reflect on it. Then finals arrive, and you realize you know more than you thought. Walking out on the other side of three massive exams feeling confident and knowledgeable was incredibly validating.
Beyond the academics, one of the most special parts of this experience has been the people. The bonds you form with classmates, professors, and colleagues are unlike anything else. There’s a shared understanding that you’re all going through something incredibly challenging together, and that connection fosters support, growth, and mutual respect. I’ve learned just as much from those relationships as I have from my casebooks.
As I move forward into 2026, I feel like a new version of myself! I’m more confident in my ability to face the challenges still ahead in law school, and I’m determined to meet them with confidence. Now, I enter the new year energized by what’s to come: a new set of courses, job applications, and organizations to explore. I’m especially excited to take Criminal Procedure next semester and finally begin applying real-world legal knowledge to a lifelong passion of mine. The work continues, but so does the excitement.
Here’s to growth in 2026!