Aisha Barnes

Primed for Law School with Service & Excellent Grades

Service to her community has always driven Aisha Barnes – from starting her own nonprofit to support the homeless to working as an English tutor for first-generation college students. Now, the Bowie State University student is graduating with a 4.0 GPA and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, as she looks forward to attending law school in fall 2020 on a full scholarship.

Barnes is one of 700 students set to graduate in Bowie State’s first-ever virtual commencement celebration on Friday, June 26 at 3 p.m. View it at bowiestate.edu/commencement.

While at Bowie State, Barnes founded the Hope to Help Project to empower college-age students to serve their communities in meaningful ways. Two years later, the organization has coordinated free haircuts for the homeless, granted scholarships to students in need and held mental health workshops.

“Students, especially young people, feel like, ‘I’m only one person. How am I supposed to end homelessness?’ If one person starts to chip away at community issues, what if everybody did? We’d really be making a lot of progress,” she said. “As college students, we don’t really have the funds to do what a lot of big organizations can do, but seeing the youth be so involved and so willing to support a cause is really important and super helpful.”

Along with community service, Barnes is part of the Honors Program and always prioritized her grades. Her parents inspired her to pursue excellence, and she took that lesson to heart.

“When I got to Bowie State, I got a 4.0 in my first semester, and I said, ‘I can keep doing this.’ I wanted to make sure that everything I was doing during my time at Bowie State was done to a standard that I could be proud of,” she said. “I would think, ‘If the professor asks for just one thing, I need to do that, plus a PowerPoint or plus a graphic.’ It’s always about going the extra mile.”

That meant seeking opportunities to prepare for her lifelong aspiration of becoming a prosecutor and “a voice for the voiceless.” She held internships at the U.S. State’s Attorney Office in Washington, DC, working in the felony drug and crime unit, and at the U.S. House of Representatives, coordinating donations for nonprofits. Last summer, she completed the University of Baltimore (UB)’s Fannie Angelos Program, which primes top students from Maryland’s historically black universities for law school. She was also an English tutor for first-generation college students through BSU’s TRiO Program. Her excellent score on the LSAT exam qualified Barnes for a full scholarship at the UB School of Law in the fall.

“Being a student, there are a lot of sacrifices that I made when it comes to my social life because I’ve spent so much time pouring into my craft, making sure that I’m ahead of the game,” she said. “It comes with that trade-off, but I wouldn’t have changed anything.”