Meet Cedric James, he is being highlighted for this week’s Senior Sunday. He will be graduating in December with a degree in criminal justice.
Cedric is very involved on campus. He is a member of Phi Alpha Delta, Alpha Phi Alpha, Southern Ambassadors, University Programming Board and Treasurer for the Justice Studies club. Phi Alpha Delta is a pre-law fraternity that brings service to the community. Alpha Phi Alpha is also a fraternity. Members of Southern Ambassadors gives tours and information to potential new students. UPB is over student engagement. The Justice Studies club is for justice studies majors to connect and discuss with one another. He is also chair over A Voteless People is a Hopeless People, which is an initiative to get people to exercise their rights to vote.
“Being involved on campus gave me the opportunity to interact with both students and the Statesboro community and afforded me the chance to give back. I have always wanted to be influential in the lives of those around me and my involvement allowed me to do that,” he said.
What Cedric loves most about Georgia Southern is the family atmosphere that the university has. “Whenever I see anyone that is wearing a Southern shirt, I know that I have a common ally no matter where I am,” he said. He will miss Georgia Southern football games at Paulson Stadium the most after he graduates.
Outside of school, Cedric works at the district attorney office in Swainsboro where he is in charge of the pre-trial diversion program. The pre-trial diversion program aims to give first time offenders a second chance. A candidate must have little to no criminal history and have not committed serious or violent felonies. If the participate is placed in the program, a plan is created based on their particular case. “This program gives them a chance to learn from their mistakes, repair the harm they caused, and better themselves without having a felony charge follow them the rest of their life for a dumb choice they may have made in the spur of the moment,” he said.
After he graduates, he plans to go to law school at the University of Michigan or Yale University. He has been interested in becoming a lawyer since he was a kid. He was inspired to become a lawyer, because of the lack of diversity in this career. “It is my hope that I can inspire other minority students that may be from a small rural area like myself and the first in their family to graduate college that whatever we want to achieve we can,” he said.
Cedric advises students at Georgia Southern to make the most of their time in college and go after anything they want to do or be involved in so that they don’t live with regrets. “While we come to college to earn a degree, the connections we make during this time will last us a lifetime, so make sure to get involved,” he said.