Garrison McDaniel became deeply involved in the Student Bar Association to enhance student engagement and professional development. His goal as SBA President is to foster stronger student connections, support first-generation law students, and expand community outreach.
Garrison McDaniel On Why He Joined the Student Bar Association
Drawn to FSU College of Law by its welcoming community, Garrison McDaniel quickly became active in the Student Bar Association, recognizing its role in promoting student interaction, academic support, and professional networking. His motivation to run for SBA President stemmed from his past experience in the SBA and a desire to revive impactful programs such as the first-generation panel. With experience as an SBA secretary, Garrison McDaniel felt prepared to lead and collaborate with others to better serve the student body.
Name: Garrison McDaniel
Law year: Rising 3L
Undergraduate school: University of Georgia
Q: What inspired you to choose FSU College of Law?
A: Once I got exposed to the community and my classmates, and just the faculty, I realized that this is the place I want to be.
Q: What is SBA ‘Student Bar Association?
A: SBA takes a couple of different roles. They, first of all, try to make sure that all of the students’ body is socialized with each other and are building up that community, but additionally, SBA tries to make sure that we are ingrained in the community.
We provide opportunities to expand your professional network, as well as we try to help out academically as much as we can.
Q: Why is it important for law students to get involved with SBA?
A: It’s important to get involved with SBA because it’s a way to get back to your classmates. As well as just simply being involved by attending events and participating gives you the advantage of being able to socialize with classmates.
And as you know, when you graduate, these classmates are going to be your coworkers, and they’re going to be your colleagues. And so it’s important to build up those relationships before you graduate, so that you go into the working world with strong connection.
Q: What motivated you to run for SBA President and what do you hope to achieve?
A: So I’ve been involved with SBA since my 1L year. My one L year, I was the one representative for the section B. Then during my two year, I was secretary, and there were things that I wanted to improve upon that SBA does, as well as things that I wanted to bring back that SBA hasn’t done in a while.
As for community engagement, I wanted to bring back the first generation panel, which is geared towards students who are the first generation in their family, aspiring attorneys. I feel like that’s really important for students who feel like they may be lost in law school or don’t know how to answer school exams or anything along that sort.
As well as find ways to give back to the community a little bit more, such as working with that Tallahassee Bar Association and other community service projects. And my role as a secretary prepared me for this role because I’ve seen the inside of how event are planned. I know the proper steps that go into reaching out to people who need to be contacted. I know how to organize, setting up the rooms and the events and the budgeting, and that way I can work with my cabinet to all rely on, to help me plan a lot of these events and make sure that everything runs smoothly.
Q: How can law students connect and/or get involved with SBA?
A: Students can get involved with SBA by going to our website, as well as reach out to me on my email,
fsusba.com
On the SBA website, there is a calendar that will be up to date with all of the SBA events as well as other student organization events. So that if you decide you want to attend a lunch event or you want to attend event after hours, you'll have the opportunity to see when and where that is.
As well as SBA does a good job of putting out group messages on when our events are how to get in contact and, other ways to get involved throughout law school.