Scholar Entries - Hispanic Lawyers Scholarship Fund of Illinois

← Go back

EmailEmail hidden; Javascript is required.

Are you a past recipient of an Hispanic Lawyers Scholarship Fund award?

Name

Maraleen Maraleen Ruiz

Current Mailing Address

6437 Old Hunters Run
Rockford, IL 61114
United States
Map It

Phone

(815) 329-4038

Connection to Illinois

Resides in Illinois and has family in Illinois.

In what city do you intend to practice law upon graduation?

Rockford, Illinois.

Name of Law School

Northern Illinois University

Class year

1st year law student

Full Time or Part Time Student?

Full Time

Date you began attending THIS law school

08/12/2025

Anticipated Graduation Date

05/20/2028

Current GPA

2.874

Name of Undergraduate Institution

Mount Mercy University

Degree (BA, BSE, etc.) and Concentration/Major

Bacheolor's of Art and Majored in English

Undergraduate Graduation Date

08/21/2021

GPA

3.89

Undergraduate Honors, Awards, or Special Recognitions

Graduated with Honors and Summa Cum Laude,

Were you employed in 2025?

yes

If yes, please identify your employer(s).

Rockford Public Schools 205.

What was your immediate family’s (including you and your spouse or domestic partner, if applicable) estimated income from all sources for the 2025 Tax Year?

28,000

Do you expect to be employed in 2026?

yes

If yes, please identify your employer(s).

Rockford Public Schools District 205.

Please estimate your immediate family’s (including you and your spouse or domestic partner, if applicable) income from all sources for the 2026 Tax year

9,000

Please estimate your parent's average annual household income over the last five years

35,000

Do your parents own or rent their home? Please describe, if necessary

Own

Describe your parents' health insurance situation. Do they have employer-sponsored health insurance, health insurance through the exchange, or no health insurance?

They have insurance provided by the state and so do I.

LIST below your total EXPENSES for attending law school for ONE YEAR (Please refer to example in FAQs)

Total Tuition Cost $

17,376

Books Cost $

2,500

Fees Cost $

8,216

Housing Cost $

10,028

Food Cost $

4,000

Other Costs $ (describe)

2,500 (personal care items, medical treatment, gas, family expenses)

Total Expenses $ (add above entries)

40,620

LIST below your total FUNDING sources you plan to use to pay for these expenses (Please refer to example in FAQs)

Student Loans $

20,284

Scholarships and Grants $

8,688

Personal Contribution (Savings/Employment) $

7,106.74

Family Contribution $ (include parents, spouse, partner, etc.)

Total Funding $ (add above entries)

36,078.74

For 2Ls and 3Ls, what is your current TOTAL loan debt from the previous law school years?

I am a 1L .

Please list any community service activities with which you have been involved in the last ten years, paying particular attention to activities in support of the Hispanic community. For each activity, please include the dates of your participation, a short description of the organization and the community they serve, and a description of the activity you performed to help them. (Please read FAQs before completing)

I took part in an undergrad community cleanup project; we cleaned the surrounding neighborhood by picking up trash. I also assisted in a fundraiser by being a part of an improv group in undergrad. I unfortunately do not remember what the funds we collected went to, as it was six years ago. I have also worked with Habitat for Humanity to build homes in undergrad. Since I graduated from undergrad, I have not been able to do as much volunteering as I would like, as my main focus has been helping my parents and making sure that my sister has the opportunity to do the things she wants to do while in undergrad.

Please provide a statement describing your background and focus your statement on your reasons for pursuing a legal career and your legal career goals. This statement is important. Please give it appropriate attention. (min. 1000 characters) (Please read FAQs before completing)

I value hard work, family, and justice. My parents made sure that I understood at a young age that if you want to get somewhere in life, you need to work for it. That sometimes life puts us in a position where we may need to work a little harder than others to achieve our goals or get where we want to be. My dad came to Chicago by coyote when he was just thirteen and started working as soon as he arrived to send money to his family in Mexico. He fortunately became a citizen under the Reagan administration through the Immigration Reform and Control Act. My mom came to the US at the age of fifteen to seek better opportunities and a higher education. She came by herself, jumping between family homes, studying, and working. They both met while working at the same restaurant. My dad decided to propose and marry my mother when he heard that the Government was deporting people. They are both citizens and are still married today. My parents had different goals in life, but they made sacrifices for each other. When they first got married, my mom was continuing her education at a community college while taking care of my brother and me, and my dad was still working at a restaurant while making plans with his brother to start his own. My mom got pregnant with my younger sister, and my dad found a location for his restaurant in Rockford, Illinois. My mom dropped out of community college, and we moved to Rockford so my dad could start his restaurant.
When we first moved to Rockford, my parents' focus was on the restaurant. My siblings and I spent a lot of time there growing up. If we were not at the restaurant, we were at school or at home with a babysitter. As business picked up and my parents got more helpful, they were finally able to spend time with us. There were still times when people called out at the last minute, and they had to go to work. It was hard; they were always tired, but I always appreciated the time that I spent with them. Sometimes it was nice because in the summer my mom would take us to Mexico to visit her mother, my grandmother, and we would spend the summer there while they came back to the U.S. and worked. My brother and I would go to summer camp in Mexico, and the rest of the time we would spend it on my grandfather’s farm. We learned to swim, practiced our Spanish, learned how to ride bikes, visited family, and made friends. It was always something to look forward to when we went to Mexico. The trips slowly stopped as my sibling and I got busier with school and other things. It has been maybe eight years since I was back, and I have regretted it very much. Entering law school was difficult because it was at the time I lost both my grandfathers, my dad’s and my mother’s. They were both in Mexico, and I wish I had been able to go back and visit them before they passed, and even before, so I could have spent more time with them.
I became heavily depressed and had anxiety when I was in high school. My parents believed that hard work would bring me out of it. I started working at my parents' restaurant when I was fifteen. I would work as a waitress on the weekends, so it would not interfere with my schoolwork. I would work from Friday to Saturday from 5 pm to 3 am, and on Sunday from noon to 5 pm. Although it did not help with my depression, it did help overcoming my social anxiety, as I had to talk to customers. It also helped me learn the value of money because I was only making tips at the time. It helped me a lot. I was able to save a lot and pay off my undergrad student loans quickly. I kept working at the restaurant during breaks in undergrad, after graduating, and while working my first job after graduating. I do have to thank the restaurant for my first full-time job after undergrad, because that is where I met one of the supervisors of the administration building of the Rockford Public Schools 205. She hired me for a part-time summer job and recommended me for the full-time executive assistant position in the legal department. I was one of the youngest people to hold that position and the first bilingual person of color.
I have always thought that the immigration process in the United States is very unfair. I live in a large Latino community and have witnessed them and heard them talk about the struggles they faced. I even have family who struggle because of their immigration status. I have seen people in fear of getting deported and leaving their children behind because their children are citizens. No longer being able to provide for their family in Mexico as they have been. Simply, going back to a country they no longer know because they have been gone for so long. People are sending their children to the U.S. to get a better education and have a better life. Children without legal status are struggling to get into higher education because they do not have legal status and do not have the means to pay for their education. Or students who have parents without legal status, who live in fear of their parents getting deported, and cannot pay for their schooling because their parents do not have the means to pay for it and cannot get federal aid because FAFSA requires parents' income taxes, which requires that they have social security numbers. There are many struggles that immigrants face, and the constant fear that they live in under this administration. To gain legal status is not easy or inexpensive. It can cost some people a lot of money, only for them not to gain legal status. My parents were very fortunate to become citizens the way they did. I wish the process were easier for people, as it was for them. I want to help make this process easier, build community security, and give it back to the community that has given my family and me so much. I think the best way to do this is to become an immigration or civil attorney to help people who are unjustly prosecuted.
I have always been a part of a supportive community. I worked hard in undergrad to get good grades while working at the writing center and helping other students stay on track as a peer tutor. I worked hard at my part-time position at the district to get my executive assistant position in the legal department. I worked hard in the legal department to get a part-time, flexible position as a legal clerk at the district while at the law school. I have always worked hard to help my family financially, helping with all I can. Even now, I help them as much as I can. I am working hard both at work and in school to get good grades and open doors so I can become an attorney who helps and supports her community. I want to have a positive impact on the community and will do all I can to reach that goal.

Please upload a copy of your financial award letter labeled as follows: LastName.FirstName.FinAwardLtr*

Warning: Trying to access array offset on false in /srv/users/serverpilot/apps/hlsf2023/public/wp-content/plugins/syncs3-gravity-forms/includes/integrations/gravityview/integration.php on line 37

Warning: Trying to access array offset on null in /srv/users/serverpilot/apps/hlsf2023/public/wp-content/plugins/syncs3-gravity-forms/includes/integrations/gravityview/integration.php on line 37
Ruiz.Maraleen.FinAward.pdf

Please upload a copy of your resume labeled as follows: LastName.FirstName.Resume*

Please upload a copy of your law school transcript labeled as follows: LastName.FirstName.LSTranscript*