School: University of Mississippi
Year: Senior
Major: Legal Studies
Outdoor track & field season brought University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) sprinter Olivia Womack to the realization that every moment counts. The 2024 Arthur Ashe Jr. Female Sports Scholar is bound for law school in the fall. So, these will be her final meets. She expects to attend the University of Mississippi School of Law, because she is impressed with the social justice mission of its legal clinics.
A legal studies major with a minor in gender studies, Womack grew up in Mississippi, and chose to stay in her home state for college because of the university’s law school. Although she has more collegiate eligibility, she has already taken the LSAT exam, made her law school applications, been accepted, and is ready to move into her future. Her goal is to work for the American Civil Liberties Union.
Womack moved several times growing up, and if not for sports, she would have had an even harder time adapting. Because of that, “you get to meet a lot of people who don’t fit in,” she says.
“Whether that be some of the queer kids or the kids who are just not like everybody else, you start to build community with them,” she says. “Seeing the way people experience injustices — whether that be sexual violence or sexual orientation or because of their immigrant status — it kind of breaks my heart, and I want to become an attorney, because I want to be able to help people who are in those troubled situations.”
