Antionna Fuller '22 Receives 2021 Philadelphia Bar Association Public Interest Section Law Student Award
Each year, the Philadelphia Bar Association Public Interest Section recognizes a student from each local law school for their commitment to public interest work. Antionna Fuller ’22 was the 2021 honoree from ֱ Law. She was recognized at the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Public Interest Section’s 30th Anniversary celebration, held on December 9, 2021.
Fuller is a third-year law student at ֱ University Charles Widger School of Law. She received her undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, from the University of South Carolina. Growing up in rural South Carolina and experiencing disparities in areas like education and housing firsthand, Fuller has always wanted to return to her hometown and help her community. With a background in psychology, she realized a law degree would provide the tools and strategies she needed to make a difference.
At ֱ Law, Fuller is actively engaged in leadership roles. She serves as co-president of the Juvenile Law Society and president of the Street Law student organization; as vice president of the First Generation Lawyers Group; as special event co-coordinator of the Public Interest Fellowship Program; and as student director of the Anti-Poverty Symposium. She was a pro bono volunteer in Tijuana, Mexico; a Student Ambassador for the Public Interest Section's brown bag summer series; and she has interned with the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, Georgia; the Pennsylvania Innocence Project; and South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center in Columbia, South Carolina.
Once she earns her law degree, Fuller hopes to get involved in child support reform and work towards the elimination of the criminalization of poverty in America. “The public interest field may not be considered the most glamorous or lucrative,” she commented, “but I've learned to always stay true to myself, to give back and to follow my heart. It’s what I was born to do.”