Guest speakers enlighten the Brook; Steve Chaikin

Written By:
Madeline Kim

Published:
Feb. 25 2010

On Thursday, January 28, the Justice Law and Society class welcomed guest speaker, Montgomery County Assistant States Attorney Steve Chaikin into their classroom. Chaikin attended White Oak Middle School and is a Springbrook High School graduate from the class of 1985.

Chaikin attended Syracuse University and then moved on to graduate from the University of Baltimore for graduate school.

He is the first in his family to graduate from graduate school.

His career jump started when was employed as Baltimore States Attorney from 1997 to 2000. Chaikin had a passion for law and justice early on in his life.

"I knew that I wanted to be a lawyer, I did not know why, but I knew that is what I wanted," Chaikin said. "Everyone has something inside of them that can be brought out and nurtured; as you get older it is going to be more apparent."

For Chaikin, pursuing his passion was not an easy task at first. Entering his first year in college, he found trouble concentrating because of the death of his best friend earlier that year.

"My first year I did not do so well but right before my sophomore year I had a wake up call," Chaikin said, "I didn’t want to give up my dream."

A major impact on his dream had to do with his love of helping others. Before his career as an attorney began Chaikin worked as a volunteer for Project Hunger. The organization helped provide food for those less-fortunate and without homes.

"I have never felt more empowered than when I was helping other people. My definition of power is making a change to better people’s lives," Chaikin said.

However, opportunities were not handed to him on a silver platter. Chaikin worked hard and persevered to get to where he is today. Even going so far as to be voluntarily jobless in hopes of getting to where he needed to be to succeed.

"I had convinced [the firm] to let me work 40 hours a week all for free. After months with no money, and no job, living in my parent’s basement, I was hired for my first job," Chaikin said. "There were so many times in my life where I had been rejected and declined and I am definitely not your smartest lawyer; but my secret weapon is hard work, I never gave up and worked harder than any other attorney out there. And now I give this weapon to you."

Chaikin has established his career as an attorney and came highly recommended to Springbrook to be a guest speaker after giving a presentation to the PTA earlier this year. He was chosen to set an example for the students in the class who are looking into a career in law and justice.

"Students got out of this experience the opportunity to interact with a real life prosecuting attorney," law teacher Gary Frace said. "They also got to hear his life story of how he got to where he is today. He challenged them to discover what they have a passion for and to go for it."

Guest speakers gives students opportunities to interact with those who have real life experiences in the professional field.

"The speaker helped me realize that it is important to know what you want to do in life," sophomore Aida Martinez said. "It was really interesting for me and I think that Springbrook should have more guest speakers."

Chaikin gave students insight to the importance of knowing your information and having the credentials to be successful in whatever field you wish to pursue.

"I thought that he was a good speaker. He really knew all the information and everything that he was telling us. He has a lot of experience in law and seemed to know what he was talking about," senior Ben Willems said.