GWS Student Spotlight – Lexi Everts – Gender & Women's Studies

Lexi Everts is majoring in Gender & Women’s Studies, Sociology, and Legal Studies and getting a certificate in Criminal Justice.

1.Why did you choose GWS?

I came to Madison with an academic plan in mind. I wanted to double major in Legal Studies and Sociology and minor in Spanish. Unfortunately, after moving in and looking at DARS for the first time, I found out that is a privilege reserved for the business school. I decided I still wanted to learn through a third framework; so, I added a criminal justice certificate. During my first two years I pursued those three areas of study, but whenever a requisite could be filled by a GWS course, I found myself leaning heavily towards GWS. I figured I could complete a GWS certificate just through the courses required for my other studies. The more GWS courses I took however, the more I realized that was where I wanted to be. That was where the courses that contained the frameworks through which I wanted to operate in now and in future study and work were. Intersectional, feminist activism, that’s how I want to approach what I do; sociology introduced me to it, but GWS is where it lives. It was more than worth it to switch the certificate to a GWS major.

2. Has GWS changed your approach to your involvement (on or off campus) during college? If so, how?

GWS has absolutely changed my approach to my involvement, on and off campus, during college. My courses, professors, and peers in GWS have affirmed and shaped my dedication to prosocial, intersectional work and advocacy. I take that with me to work, as a legal assistant, and I will take it with (hopefully) to law school and future practice. In the law firm I work, almost all of our cases come from the State Public Defender (SPD). Every single client is different; I believe viewing cases with an intersectional lens is especially important to developing a better understanding of each person and their situation.

3. How has GWS shaped your future plans?

My plan has always been to apply to law school, as I am in the process of doing so now. How I will go through the next (hopefully) 3 years of legal academia, what extracurricular organizations, activist groups, clubs, research labs, or nonprofits I work with, will be shaped by my interest in GWS. My future has been shaped by my passion for topics, like injustice in criminal law at the intersection of multiple identities (thank you Kimberlé Crenshaw), that the department gave me space to foster and learn about more in-depth. With the concepts and principles I’ve learned, I will, eventually (hopefully) also practice criminal law as a public defense attorney, working for the SPD or a firm that takes SPD cases.