MCS senior completes law & CSI program at George Mason

Mount Carmel School senior Kalyn Diaz recently completed The National Youth Leadership Forum’s, or Envision’s Law and CSI program at George Mason University.

Diaz was the only student from the CNMI to attend the program, joining 276 other students from across the nation to take law and forensic courses. Diaz, an aspiring CSI, completed the forensic track. Diaz had a hands-on educational experience, learning many aspects of forensics including but not limited to criminal behavior and crime scene investigation. This all culminated in Diaz participating in a mock trial together with students from both the law and forensic tracks. 

Diaz also got to hear from numerous speakers who work in or are involved in the fields of forensics and law such as lawyers, professors, as well as a wrongfully accused person exonerated through the non-profit legal organization The Innocence Project.

According to Diaz, “Envision gave me a better understanding of and a renewed interest in what I wanted to study in college. I also learned to be more observant and more social.”

Being the only student from the CNMI, Diaz also saw this as an opportunity to be an ambassador for and to educate others about her culture, “It made me unique, it made me teach them about Saipan and my culture. They also wanted to learn about the [Chamorro] language, where we’re from and what we do.”

Throughout her program, Diaz visited landmark monuments in Washington, D.C. such as the White House, Capitol Building, George Washington’s monument, and even city of Baltimore on a cultural extension day.

This was Diaz’s first time participating in the Envision program, which was founded on the idea that students could realize their potential beyond the classroom by cultivating a deeper relationship with the world around them. Thirty years later, Envision grew to provide 17 different nationwide career, leadership, and technology programs that enabled students like Diaz to realize their career and life aspirations.

Now an alumnus of the program, Diaz hopes to use what Envision taught her as she applies to college and pursue her dream to be a CSI, “Envision changed my life. It taught me so many things about my field and the opportunities it offers in a hands on, collaborative effort.” Diaz is now currently applying to be a college freshman at George Mason University.

Ocampo is part of the 2019 MCS Intro to Media Communications Course