Scarlet Service: Empowering Students Through Civic Action

Isabella Perry was planning a career in the criminal justice field with the goal of improving the system from within. When she envisioned her future, she saw herself becoming a law enforcement official-possibly a detective or an FBI agent.

After spending her summer as a Scarlet Service intern, she now sees herself as an attorney.

"Leading up to this internship, I've had an interest in the law, but I was a little intimidated," said the 21-year-old Perry, who is entering her senior year this fall at Rutgers-Camden School of Arts and Sciences. "After this internship, I've made up my mind. I'm definitely going to go to law school."

Perry interned at the New Jersey Reentry Corporation, a nonprofit that helps war veterans as well as those leaving incarceration or rehab programs to readjust and rebuild their lives. The organization, which has several locations throughout the state, guides participants as they navigate the legal system, find employment, housing and medical care, helps them obtain proper documentation like restoring a driver's license or getting a Social Security card.

The internship appealed to Perry, who faced her own hardships and challenges growing up, because it was an opportunity to work at an organization that was more than a support services agency-it is an advocacy program.

"I often describe the Reentry Corporation as the bridge between the justice system and the general society," said Perry, who is also part of the Honors College at Rutgers-Camden. "I think being that bridge for people who never had that advocate or that resource has been impactful for me."

When she was 6 years old, she was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome, a neurological disorder characterized by involuntary, repetitive movements and vocalizations. She said she was bullied at school and had to learn to manage her symptoms.

"I know firsthand how it feels to be ostracized and have no one to advocate for you, other than yourself," she wrote in her Scarlet Service application. "These experiences - the stares, the assumptions, the mistreatments-all taught me resiliency and importance of advocacy."

Perry said she often shared her own story with the program's participants to show them that proper guidance, they're able to start anew. She eventually got the care that she needed, including adopting a service dog. Apollo, a 7-year-old labradoodle who accompanies her on the Rutgers campus, has been with Perry since high school and will likely walk the stage with her as she receives her degree.

As a criminal justice major, Perry said she had learned much about delinquency or why people commit crime, but she wants to focus on preventing people from re-entering the system.

"I was more interested in how we can prevent someone from getting into a life of crime or how can we deter people from crime," she said. "We can't build a safer community unless we help individuals get back on their feet, to deter them from crime, to deter them from recidivism."

Perry said now that she can sees bigger possibilities for herself, she pictures herself as a defense attorney

"Later on in my career, I would love the chance not only to defend people but hear them out and advocate for them," she said.

- Roya Rafei