After almost two decades at her dream job in the Toronto music industry, Joanna Lund wanted to be a more of a positive force in the world. So, she dropped everything and moved to Halifax to start her journey to become a human rights lawyer at our tiny liberal arts school.
It was a job most people would have thought was pretty cool. “I worked in the music industry for a long time, about fifteen, sixteen years, in Toronto,” she said.
For King’s student Joanna Lund, it just wasn’t enough.
“I just felt like I wasn’t doing anything to make the world a better place,” she said. Lund read the paper every day and watched the news every night. She felt there was a lot of bad in the world and she wanted to do some good.
“I had heard a lot of really great things about King’s – the campus, the people, just how it was a really nice community.”
So, in her late 30s, Lund went back to school. She’s studying Political Science with a minor in Contemporary Studies. “After I’m done my undergrad at King’s, I’m going to apply to Dal Law to be a human rights lawyer. “
Different Point of View
Being a mature student, Lund admits she had assumptions about her more juvenile peers. “I think I just came into this thinking, you know, younger kids – eighteen, nineteen, first years – are going to be completely disengaged, and not care about anything” she said. “I figured they would all be [on] their phones and you know, kind of know-it-alls as I was when I was that age…but it’s been the complete opposite of that.”
In fact, Lund was surprised by how much she has in common with her classmates. “They’re so engaged in each other and what they’re studying,” she said. “They’ve been super nice to be around. It’s been refreshing to be around younger people with a different point of view.”
Choosing King’s
Even though she was surrounded by noise in the big city of Toronto, word about King’s made it to Lund. “I had heard a lot of really great things about King’s – the campus, the people, just how it was a really nice community,” she said.
The reputation of King’s honours programs and the idea of higher education also made impressions on Lund. “The Contemporary Studies program was something that really, really interested me. I didn’t really see a lot of other schools offering anything like that.”
King’s and Dalhousie
Lund feels if she can survive King’s she’ll be set for Dal Law. “I think it’s just a really good foundation to have,” she said. “There’s a lot of reading involved and a lot of essay writing, the ability to think critically is crucial to doing well.”
Right now, however, she’s just appreciating everything King’s has to offer in and outside the classroom. “My favourite spot is in [the] library. Right under the…so when you walk into the main room, there’s a statue of the winged victory of Samothrace, which is my absolute favourite statue from the Louvre.”
