Spotlights
Clair (Radyko) Scheiderer
I graduated in May 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in international
relations and French with an international business minor. After
graduation, I lived in France for a year interning at the historic
Abbey of Pontlevoy in the Loire Valley.
When I returned, I attended law school at Wayne State University.
During law school, I worked on the Wayne Law Review, the
Wayne State asylum and immigration law clinic, and received a
fellowship to live and work in Lebanon at the Lebanese Emigration
Research Center during the summer of 2011. I graduated in May 2012.
I currently work as a staff attorney at Freedom House, located in
Detroit. It is a non-profit organization that provides social and
legal services to victims of torture and those fleeing persecution in
their home countries, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa. The senior
attorney and I represent roughly forty clients who are seeking asylum
in the United States.
I was always incredibly interested in world affairs throughout my
studies at Grand Valley. I studied abroad in France during the summer
of my sophomore year and that really seems to have been the catalyst
for ultimately changing my major to international relations and
embarked me on my other travels after graduation. I still use my
French language skills on a daily basis here in the office because
many of my clients are from French speaking African countries. My
education at Grand Valley has provided me with the international
background necessary to interact with my clients in a knowledgeable way.
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