Finding Success by Seizing the Moment
Zion Jackson doesn’t let anything hold her back. A junior in Pitt’s Dietrich School majoring in Law, Criminal Justice, and Society, Zion has established a habit of diving headfirst into new opportunities and is thriving because of it.
Zion didn’t plan on attending the University of Pittsburgh. She graduated from Pittsburgh's Shady Side Academy and expected to move far from home for college.
“I was looking to go out of state for school, but all of the other schools that I wanted to go to weren't supporting me that well,” says Zion. “I spoke to a financial aid counselor at Pitt, and he sat down and helped me with my FAFSA. He was the first person who had actually listened to me throughout the whole process, and the first school that really saw me not just as a number or as a person that they wanted to get tuition from. It showed me how Pitt is able to support its students. I ended up choosing Pitt based on the strength of the morality they have toward their students.”
Zion came to Pitt with a clear professional goal: law school. Law, Criminal Justice, and Society was a natural fit for a major, but once she got to campus, she realized her professional and personal interests deserved equal attention.
"I have a passion for writing, and I was in this season of looking at the duality of life,” explains Zion. "I have a professional passion, I have a personal passion. I thought: ‘Why not do both?’"
The decision to add language studies to her law-focused curriculum has proven valuable in multiple ways. In addition to satisfying a personal priority, Zion has found that majoring in English provides essential skills for her legal career, and completing a Spanish minor will help her reach more people as a lawyer.
"It has ended up all working out," says Zion.
Zion was feeling burnt out from extracurricular involvement when she finished high school and anticipated scaling back to focus on her studies.
“I thought to myself: ‘Maybe I won't join everything…’ And then I ended up doing the opposite, and joining everything," she laughs.
As a result, Zion has a long list of extracurricular accomplishments from her time at Pitt so far, and she shows no signs of slowing down. One meaningful project with the Black Action Society began during Zion’s sophomore year: Zion helped create Blackprint, a podcast in collaboration with WPTS, Pitt’s student-run radio station. Blackprint was created to give Black students at Pitt a platform to discuss issues affecting their community and tackled difficult topics with openness.
"We created a space where Black students at Pitt could have representation in the media," Zion offers. "We were in a time where people didn't feel comfortable stating their opinions, and so we created a space where no topic was taboo. It was a conversation; I feel like that art has been lost recently. Even my co-host and I had different views on certain things. It was impactful to be able to create a space where the art of conversation—respectful, informative—was preserved."
Zion has also had a meaningful presence on the African dance team, Ya’baso, working her way up from member to president. The team performs at cultural events on campus, visits Pittsburgh public schools to teach dance to children, and represents Pitt at various community events.
Says Zion, "It's been the epitome of my college experience. I've been able to create sisterhood within the community and bring people together on stage. I really enjoy shining some light on the world, and teaching the language of dance, and how that's able to translate into community."
Zion's commitment to pursuing her goals despite obstacles was particularly evident when she applied for the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship. She'd always dreamed of studying abroad, but financial concerns and the demands of preparing for law school made it seem impossible.
"I wasn't planning on it. Everything started to lay down at my feet, honestly," Zion recalls. "I submitted the application on the last day. I had a lot going on, but I just felt like I should do it. I felt like I shouldn't restrict myself just because I have a lot going on. You're always going to have a lot going on. There's never going to be a right time—just do it."
She was accepted. The program she chose, a wrongful conviction litigation program in the United Kingdom, was inspired by an experience in one of her classes. Her class was discussing wrongful conviction cases when Marcellus Williams, a man on death row, was executed despite questions about his conviction.
"As the clock was striking down, I was in class. Marcellus Williams was executed, and in that moment, I thought to myself: This is something that I want to do. I submitted the Gilman application, I decided that that wrongful conviction litigation program was the program I was going to be doing. I put that on my application. I submitted the application. I got in. And that experience changed my whole life."
Beyond innocence work, Zion’s also passionate about entertainment and sports law, and anticipates pursuing it after law school.
"Our culture and society wouldn't be, without the entertainment culture. Art, music, and even sports can feel like the light at the end of the tunnel for us. It should be represented, and that’s my passion, to one day represent a person, or people, or organizations that bring light to our society,” offers Zion.
Zion sees Pitt and the Dietrich School as a place where her willingness to just dive in has allowed her professional ambitions and personal passions to flourish.
"I wouldn't be here without my parents and my friends," Zion says. "The community that Pitt has allowed me to build and has shown me—I am forever indebted and grateful."
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