Annual Autumn Gathering of Environmental and Natural Resources Graduate Program Brings Together One of the Most Diverse Groups in Law School History

The recently held 4th annual autumn get together of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Graduate Program was a big success.

The recent gathering brought together many of the students who make up the most diverse class ever in the history of the LLM and Masters of Resources Law Studies programs.

The event, held at my house in Denver, is an annual event that is planned by assistant program director Lucy Daberkow and me. This year we were also ably helped by student assistant (and LLM student) Payal Sathe of India.

The gathering allows all the students in the program to meet in a social setting aimed at helping everyone get to know each other better. Lucy and I know that not all of the learning that takes place in the program always happens in a classroom -- sometimes it happens at social events, too, and consequently we work hard to bring the students together in a range of various events across the school year.

At the event, voices from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, India, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, and the United States could be heard as continuing students who began in January mingled with students who started in August. The geographic diversity of the students is not by accident -- Lucy and I and the entire Sturm College of Law are committed to assembling each year the most talented and diverse group of students possible.

All age groups were represented, too. The youngest attendee was Sora, the three year old son of MRLS student Masumi Takanashi, and the next youngest were Emma, four, and Amelie, six, daughters of Lucy and Eric Daberkow. (Saro is learning to speak Japanese and English; Emma and Amelie are already old hands at English and Spanish.) The oldest person at the event was ...well no need to go there.

Thanks to everyone for a great evening!

--Don C. Smith