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<\/a>Taneka Dick and her husband, James Dick, a UToledo Law graduate, and their newborn son, James Dick III.<\/p><\/div>\n
Dick was offered the full-time clerk position and switched to part-time night classes at Toledo Law.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a cool opportunity to see the court system firsthand,\u201d Dick said, \u201cIt was exhausting, physically and mentally, to work full time and go to school at night. But I really enjoyed my job and learned so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kuhlman said that Dick gives him hope for the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs an elected judge, I appreciated her public service attitude and willingness to work with the people we serve,\u201d he said. \u201cShe\u2019s the classic example of the American dream. She didn\u2019t have anything handed to her. Through her own dedication and hard work, she made it through law school.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dick has received more than a J.D. from UToledo.<\/p>\n
After a get-to-know-you-event for incoming law students her first year, Dick was standing over her cranky car battery in the parking lot. A fellow law student, James Dick, stopped and asked if she needed help. A year later, the pair were married. Barros was a guest at their wedding.<\/p>\n
After working at the Toledo Municipal Court for two years, Dick decided to quit her job so she could devote herself full time to finishing her law degree.<\/p>\n
Shortly after making the decision, she found out she was pregnant. The couple had just moved to Michigan, and her pregnancy wasn\u2019t easy. But thanks to COVID, Dick was able to complete a couple of semesters online and avoid the commute while she was sick.<\/p>\n
At 38 weeks pregnant, Dick decided to push ahead and finish her two remaining classes this fall. Her professors encouraged her, and Dick said Kelly Tomlinson, assistant dean for student affairs, assured her they would work with her.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe checked in and made sure I had what I needed and talked to my professors,\u201d Dick said.<\/p>\n
James Dick III was born Labor Day weekend, just a few weeks into his mom\u2019s last semester. Shortly afterward, Dick lost another beloved family member, her aunt and adopted mom.<\/p>\n
Dick missed more than a month of school. But once again, her support network at Toledo Law and at home stepped up.<\/p>\n
When she was ready to go back to school, her husband drove her an hour and 20 minutes to class two nights a week. Her professors allowed her to scoot out of class to feed the baby. She\u2019d nurse and then hand James off to her husband while she finished class.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been through so much in my time at law school,\u201d Dick said. \u201cEveryone has been so accommodating and kind. It\u2019s cool when you have professors and staff willing to help you get through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dick said she also appreciated the culture at Toledo Law and that staff and faculty never pitted students against each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey would always encourage us and remind us that there is more than this, that we had value and not to get wrapped up in the competition,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Dick\u2019s not sure what\u2019s ahead for her. She said she can see herself on either side, as a prosecutor or a defense attorney. For now, she plans to study for the bar, scheduled for February, and take care of baby James.<\/p>\n
After all, juggling isn\u2019t new to her. It\u2019s what she does best.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Taneka Dick has had more thrown at her in her three years in law school than most students \u2014 some of the deepest valleys and highest peaks of her life \u2014 persevering through it all to graduate this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":837,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,69,30,1,71,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70616"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/837"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70616"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70638,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70616\/revisions\/70638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Graduation](\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Graduation-Cap_blue-500x500-e1586882554282.png\")
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