Graduating Class Prepares for July Bar Exam through READ Summer Program

By Jake Jenkins

June 21, 2023

With the 2023 July Bar Exam date nearing, students at Michigan State University College of Law are studying and are involved in the third annual Realizing Excellence and Dreams program (READ).

READ is a collaboration between the Diversity Equity Services Office (DESO) and the Academic Success Program (ASP) that was first introduced in 2020 with the goal to bring together 2020 Bar Exam takers and to support graduates preparing for remote, restructured and delayed bar exams.

In 2021 and 2022, adjustments were made to meet different graduate needs and additional changes were implemented this year. Some sessions focus on wellness and simply provide a place to vent while other sessions may highlight skills and directions you should be going at various points of bar review.

The program is led by Goldie Pritchard, Assistant Dean of ASP, and Mary Ann Ferguson, Dean and founder of DESO.

Goldie Pritchard “This is both for wellness, emotional support and not necessarily the academic aspect,” Pritchard said. “It’s an opportunity for students to vent and share things with other classmates who are studying for the Bar Exam but ultimately to empower and encourage one another.”

READ meetings are live Zoom sessions and not recorded to encourage sharing and confidentiality. Students can attend in person or virtually join others trying to achieve a common goal of passing the bar.

Sessions include topics of simply checking in on students, sharing words of encouragement, discussing Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) practices scores and how to increase them after each week.

Mary Ann Ferguson “I have four pillars in DESO which is academics, professionalism, wellness and community,” Ferguson said. “The READ program is an actualizer of that. The academic portion along with the bar exam itself and the wellness pieces supports of all this. Also coming in together and discussing topics brings in the unity and a community to let them know they are not alone.”

This program is one of three parts of ASP Bar Exam Support, which was designed to provide supplemental support to graduates while they are studying for the bar exam.

Through this support, students can meet one on one with Dean Pritchard about frustration, time management, MBE scores or whatever may be bothering them.

Students also can schedule office hours with a professor who has volunteered for the program. These are group office hours via Zoom with a MSU Law professor to answer pre-submitted questions and some broad questions related to topics like MBE rules/federal rules.