Two Curriculums, Two Jobs, And A Child Don’t Slow GTCC’s Boston

With hard work, perseverance GTCC’s Boston is on track for a legal career.

As a non-traditional student, Courtney Boston knows she has to take a less traveled, more difficult route to reach her dream of becoming an attorney.

If that means enrolling in two curriculums simultaneously at Guilford Technical Community College, working a fulltime job as a paralegal for a law firm and a part-time job as a weekend manager at a restaurant all while rearing a three-year-old boy, well, that’s just fine with her.

“I’ve always known I wanted to be involved in law, that I wanted to be an attorney, but I have a three-year-old child. Life got complicated. I still wanted to pursue a legal career, to keep my goals and be a good mother,” the 24-year-old Boston said.

So far, she is nailing it across the board.

She is winding down her studies at GTCC, with graduation from both the paralegal and political science programs on the horizon as an honors student in each curriculum. With a solid support group of parents and grandparents she juggles it all perfectly.

“I’m so close to my whole family, my parents, my grandparents, my aunts, and cousins. Also, my son’s dad is doing a great job of stepping up. They are the reason I’m able to do this,” said Boston, who works fulltime as a paralegal at Brock and Scott PLLC in Winston-Salem and is a weekend manager at Kings Crab Shack and Oyster Bar, also in Winston-Salem.

Boston has known pretty much forever she wanted to be involved in the practice of law.

“I was that kid, when I was four years old and asked what you wanted to be, I said ‘a lawyer’,” she recalled.

That passion grew as she got older.

“From where America was and where it is now, being a black woman … the changes we’ve had would not have happened if not for the law,” said Boston.

“For the longest time I wanted to do corporate law, contract law, because that’s where the money is, but after all the social issues that are going on, I knew I needed to be in civil rights law. I think I need to be focused on minorities.”

Boston has already made a bit of a splash in the legal world. At the urging of GTCC paralegal program director Pam Hollern, Boston entered the prestigious American Association for Paralegal Education’s (AAfPE) essay competition while just a freshman. The provided topic? Deep fake technology, a subject most are unaware of, including Boston when she was given the assignment. In short it is the act of using real photos of someone to piece together into a suggestive video and post on the web for revenge or blackmail.

“It is technology that is so complex, looks so real, that people think it is real. Sex tapes are the perfect example. They take multiple pictures and images and put them together and make it look like a video,” explained Boston. “I always thought when I heard someone say ‘that’s not me’ in a video, it really was them. But the research I did do was so educational, so scary that a normal person could get involved in something like this without even knowing it.”

Boston’s insightful essay finished second in the contest. It was published in The Legal Educator, the AAfPE national publication; she was awarded a $500 scholarship; and received an invitation to the national awards ceremony. More than the awards, though, was the feeling of success.

“Honestly, when I heard from Mrs. Hollern and called the publication, it meant more to me … I cried. I broke down. Being a single mom, it’s hard. It feels I’m being pulled in so many directions … am I spending too much time with school and not enough with my son and vice versa?”

Boston hopes to continue her education at Elon University, first for her undergraduate degree and later for her law degree. But GTCC will forever hold a spot in her heart and mind.

“I think one of the biggest reasons I did the paralegal program at GTCC was that it’s going to put me way ahead when I go to a four-year school. I know I’m going to be way older than everyone else when I get to law school, but working with attorneys every day, I will be able to understand what’s going on. I feel like it will give me a little extra, so I won’t be so overwhelmed.”