As his undergraduate education winds down, University of Houston student Mason Malone will get a head start on his legal education in the 2018 fall semester.
May 8, 2018 — As University of Houston undergraduate student Mason Malone prepares to enter his senior year, he will also be starting his first year of law school at the University of Houston Law Center thanks to the 3+3 Program.
The program is a partnership between the UH Honors College and the Law Center. Malone was the first student accepted into the program which was announced in 2015 and honored the following year by the UH System Board of Regents with its Academic Excellence Award.
Malone will earn a degree in Liberal Studies with a minor in Phronesis, the study of law, ethics and politics. He also has added an economics major to his degree plan.
"Obviously there's nothing that can really prepare you for law school in your undergraduate career," Malone said. "But I think we have a better idea from seeing people work in those professions and not being led under the misconception that there are classes I can take in my undergrad to prepare me."
Malone has worked closely with Professor Alison Leland, director of the 3+3 Program, in serving to his community. Malone also works with the Bonner Leaders Program at UH, one of more than 80 chapters across the nation. The program offers students developmental and educationally significant service opportunities. Malone works with the Writing to Inspire Successful Education program, and the Houston Scholars Writing Workshop. Both initiatives aim to close the income-education achievement gap.
"I know that whatever I do, I want to in some capacity give back to the community," Malone said. "I know that not all lawyers are super hero crime fighters. But you're given special knowledge and expertise that other people don't have, so the best thing you can do in your free time is to help people who don't have the resources to access that knowledge. It's an intellectual pull that I think I would really enjoy."
