April 19, 2021 When BYU Law student Melissa Jo “MJ” Townsend was growing up, her mother frequently reminded her that
she a member of “the People” was the government.
“I never really got that,” Townsend recalled. “I thought, ‘No, I’m just a kid from San Clemente, my voice doesn’t really matter. I’m small.’”
Photo by Alyssa Dahneke
Photo by Alyssa Dahneke
As she prepares to graduate this month, Townsend says that her three years of study at BYU’s J. Reuben Clark Law School have radically changed her perspective.
“Everything we do in law school has engendered in me a deep reverence for the Constitution,” she observed. “I think about it each day now the protections it offers us, the difference it makes, the ideals it embodies and it’s something I want to defend and support. Of course, I’ve always known in my head what the law is, but now it’s settled in my heart.”