Helen Bekele ’28 joined Northeastern Law this September, but her journey began nearly a decade ago in a Cambridge high school classroom. As a senior at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in 2017, Bekele was one of eight students selected for the Kimbrough Scholar program—an experience that would fundamentally shape her understanding of justice, community, and her career trajectory.
A Unique Educational Partnership
The Kimbrough Scholar program was an innovative collaboration between Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and Northeastern University School of Law’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJ). Under the guidance of high school professor Kathleen Fitzgerald and CRRJ’s Professor Melvin Kelley, students received lessons both in their high school classroom and the halls of NUSL. In weekly seminars, students immersed themselves in the social, political, and socio-economic underpinnings of racial oppression in the United States and conducted legal research and restorative justice work.
In its fourth year, this cohort focused on Louisiana cases, researching these matters and then visiting the location for further research, and to meet with victims’ descendants.
Bekele remembers her work on the case of Royal Brooks Sr., a 44-year-old African American man shot and killed in Gretna on February 27, 1948 by Police Officer Alvin Bladsacker. Brooks had been quarrelling with a bus driver when Bladsacker arrived. The officer claimed Brooks was intoxicated and attacked him. In response, Bladsacker struck Brooks with his blackjack, arrested him, and marched him toward the Gretna jail. While walking to the jail, Bladsacker claimed Brooks attacked him again and shot him twice in the middle of the street. Hundreds of witnesses refuted Bladsacker’s account and insisted Brooks was murdered without provocation. Advocacy efforts spurred an indictment on manslaughter charges, but the jury deliberated for seven minutes before acquitting him.
“In class, we were getting content on the climate of the case,” said Bekele. “It really opened my eyes to a new sphere of understanding. It was an interactive experience giving us a better understanding of race and justice and a small peek into how the legal system fits into that.”
A Journey to Louisiana
The program’s most transformative moment came during a trip to Louisiana, where students traveled with professors Kelley and Fitzgerald to meet with Brooks’s surviving relatives and community members to share their research and hear the family’s own memories of the killing.
The Louisiana trip provided more than academic learning—it offered profound personal insights. The family welcomed the students into their community, taking them to enjoy local po’boys and showing them around. For Bekele, whose parents immigrated from Ethiopia, this experience of community strength felt familiar and powerful.
“Seeing that was so enriching for me and made me think about my community back home,” she reflects. “My parents had difficulty navigating the legal system and the world more generally, but [maintained a] strong sense of community.”
Building on a Foundation
The Kimbrough Scholar experience became the foundation for Bekele’s educational journey. She went on to Boston University in fall 2017, majoring in political science with minors in African American studies and African studies. After graduating in 2021, Bekele spent four years as a paralegal at Greater Boston Legal Services in the housing unit, working on eviction defense. “It brought me back to what I was doing as a Kimbrough Scholar,” she said.
Northeastern Law was “my top choice” precisely because of her earlier experience with CRRJ. She is drawn to the school’s emphasis on experiential learning and its Centers of Excellence, including the Center for Law, Equity and Race (CLEAR).
As a first-generation college and law student, Bekele particularly values how the Kimbrough Scholar program provided guidance that wasn’t available elsewhere. “Truthfully, at the end of high school I was lost on what it looked like to continue exploring my interests both inside and outside of the classroom,” she admitted.
Now in her first semester, Bekele is exploring various organizations, courses and clinics, considering a return to CRRJ and is interested in the housing justice clinic. While remains committed to “public interest, client-facing work.”
Helen Bekele’s journey from a Cambridge high school classroom to Northeastern Law illustrates the profound impact that innovative educational partnerships can have on students’ lives.
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