Marina Malmoud
Scholars
Economics
Marina Malmoud's advice for you? "Don't come to Brooklyn College and allow yourself to be cornered. Change your mind if you want to and take advantage of all of the different courses, internships and fellowships that you can."
Marina has certainly followed her own advice. She arrived at Brooklyn College as a student in the B.A.-M.D. program but switched to economics with an eye toward law school. Along the way, she has completed a number of internship and study abroad assignments that have helped to shape her thinking and to develop her interests. Her internship in the Kings County District Attorney's Office was really challenging and a great learning experience. "I was given a police report and had to speak to the victim and the reporting officer so that I could write up the complaints that the defendant ultimately got charged with in court. It was a steep learning curve — you get one day of instruction then you just learn as you go along." Her other law internship doing pro bono criminal defense work was very eye opening. "Working with pro bono cases really opened my eyes to the injustices of the system — how people without representation are so often discarded or thrown into the system and cannot find a good way out."
Her study abroad experience in Buenos Aires led to her topic for her senior project. “While in Buenos Aires, I had the opportunity to see the Madres De Plaza de Mayo movement marching in front of the Casa Rosada. Witnessing these women marching and protesting for what they believe in has gotten me so interested in the movement that it is what I am doing my senior project on."
For Marina, "the best part of being in the Honors Academy is the attention that coordinators pay to each individual student and the opportunities that they bring to your attention. The internship and study abroad experiences have helped me to redefine what I see as my own career path. I certainly don't think I would have been afforded these opportunities had I not been in the honors program."