M
.P.P., Duke University, 1999
B. A., Yale University, 1996
When asked when her commitment to public service began, Silvia Shin remembers
a series of trips to South Korea as a child. “I stood on a lookout tower
at the 38th parallel straining to see the forbidden territory of my father’s
true native homeland – North Korea,” she says. “I came to
understand that kind, public-minded strangers aided my family’s migration
to freedom.”
Her family instilled in her a strong sense of social responsibility, encouraging
her to care for the welfare of others. After graduating from Yale, Silvia spent
a year as an assistant language teacher in the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program,
and after receiving a master’s degree from Duke, she spent several years
as a program analyst in the Administration for Children’s Services in
New York. During that time she began to see the value of earning a law degree.
Silvia was attracted by BC Law’s reputation both for excellence in education
and for a collegial atmosphere. Everyone she spoke to emphasized the supportive
environment where faculty, administrators, and students were committed to success.
“I’ve been fortunate to befriend a really diverse group of people–the
diversity is what really stands out for me,” she says now. “Seeing
the different paths we have taken to get here and where we all hope to go makes
the dynamics of scholarship and friendship so valuable.”
At Yale, Silvia was a Robert J.H. Kiphuth Scholar, a member of the Psi Chi National
Honor Society, and a Tylenol National Leaders Scholar. She also served as Captain
of the Women’s Swim Team, Co-Coordinator of the Branford College Community
Service Program, a member of the Yale Psychological Society Community Outreach
Committee, and the Yale College Captain’s Council.
Silvia currently works at the firm Saul Ewing. She’d eventually like to
focus on making the process of international adoption easier. “While working
as a child wel- fare policy analyst, I became interested in permanency issues
for children,” she says. “I was exposed to the issue of permanency
at the international level. I would love to run my own international adoption
agency.”