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City Year alum shares how service prepared her for the legal field and for life

Recently, we had a chance to catch up with City Year New Hampshire alumna Hope Bowen (‘23 & ’24), who described how she has pursued her long-term goal of entering the legal field and how she continues to leverage the experiences and skills from her service into her career.

Hope came to City Year after graduating from the University of New Hampshire in 2022. Her time interning at both the Dover Teen Center and the Racial Unity Team of NH inspired her passion for public service. After speaking with an advisor at UNH, she learned of the work at City Year New Hampshire and found it would be a great opportunity to gain more insight into the emotional and mental aspects of working in Juvenile/Family Law.

After spending two rigorous years in service as a First-Year Corps member and then Service Leader, Hope described how her service taught her the importance of “adapting to new challenges” and the invaluable experience of “working with diverse groups in the classroom and collaborating with school staff helped [her] acquire teamwork, leadership, and problem-solving skills.” These skills translated seamlessly into her current role as a Corporate Legal Assistant at McLane Middleton, P.A. in Manchester.

Hope’s time at McLane Middleton has involved navigating various databases to collect research while prioritizing her individual and team deadlines. She described how serving on and leading a school team made her responsibilities of “managing legal documents, communicating with clients, collaborating effectively with colleagues and attorneys, and managing complex tasks” that much easier.

Reminiscing on her time working with Manchester students, Hope offered a tone of great positivity. She reflected on how her students imparted many gifts to her, including “a broader perspective on the power of positivity and resilience” and the “ability to find joy and beauty in the every day.” For Hope, it was the “special bonds [she] was able to create with students across the entire school, as well as the fun [they] had together” that made it all worth it. She stated, “Knowing the students were counting on me and looking up to me encouraged me to work hard even when the days were tough.”

We are so grateful to Hope for her time at City Year and ecstatic that she chose to stay in the Manchester community. Her parting wisdom to current and future Corps members was to “fully embrace every moment of the service year.” Hope believes the memories made with students “stay with you long after the red jacket comes off, and those moments hold more value than you might expect.”

Thank you, Hope, for continuing to cherish these memories and attributing your time at City Year to your current success. We are excited to see your continued growth and appreciate your support of the CYNH community.

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