 CGRS Volunteer of the Year: David Menninger
By Katrina Schwartz, CGRS Summer Intern
“I love working for CGRS,” says David Menninger, who will soon be moving on to pursue new adventures in international and academic arenas after a year of dedicated service to CGRS. David began volunteering with CGRS after graduating with honors from the University of California, Berkeley where he majored in American Studies. For his honors thesis, David researched asylum based on sexual orientation, a subject he continued to explore during his time at CGRS.
David says that he has enjoyed being a CGRS volunteer because of the diversity of projects he has been able to work on, including researching country conditions, translating documents, engaging in policy advocacy, fundraising, and even helping to train new volunteers. As one of CGRS’s most prolific volunteer researchers, David has assisted on over thirty-five cases in the past year, generating country conditions reports that support the work of lawyers and advocates across the country and that will help to strengthen numerous gender-based asylum claims.
Donating his time one day a week to CGRS, David has enjoyed having a respite from his restaurant job, finding that even as a volunteer he could effectively support women seeking asylum. He distinctly remembers how rewarding it was to hear that a disabled Salvadoran woman, whose story particularly touched him, received asylum a few months later and that his research contributed to the successful outcome of her case.
David plans to attend law school next year after spending nine months teaching English in Madrid, Spain. While in Spain, he hopes to expand his knowledge of immigration and asylum issues through similar volunteer work.
Taking a practical approach to law school, David admits that he is interested in asylum law, but wants to keep his options and interests open. For him, working with CGRS has been an important way to synthesize his overseas experiences with his academic interests, while developing critical thinking and research skills that he will need as a law student.
David will be greatly missed, and the entire staff of CGRS wishes him well during his time in Spain and beyond. |
