Touching lives

Oakland Political Science student Maria Williams was told being able to disassociate from her work would be necessary when she started her internship at the Oakland County Juvenile Drug Treatment Court.

Williams thought that would be easy, but that hasn’t proven to be the case, something she’s fine with.

“I thought I could and I was wrong,” Williams said. “When I was trained enough to act as a probation officer for our kids, I went into each visit ready to offer rehearsed words of encouragement and well-meaning advice. What I never anticipated was that these children would show me what a difference genuine empathy can make in someone’s life. Having these kids open up to me, cry in front of me, laugh with me, and learn from me was an experience that is priceless and revealed to me why attorneys are so passionate about the defense of their clients.”

Williams said she wants the best for every single kid she works with.

“I’m extremely fulfilled every time we see real change in them,” Williams said. “I recognized qualities in myself I hadn’t fully recognized before, such as resilience, attentiveness to detail, and the ability to connect meaningfully with those around me, even in emotionally demanding situations. These traits were honed from the time I spent with the kids, who some would only see as delinquent or troubled.” 

Internship that makes a difference

Williams’ internship is in the juvenile casework department. 

When juveniles are accused of a drug related crime or if it is suspected that extensive drug use in part caused them to commit crimes, they may be ordered to the Juvenile Drug Treatment Program. They may also be offered consent to complete the Juvenile Drug Treatment Program, which gives the juveniles the opportunity to have the offense removed from their permanent record.

Once they are sent to the Juvenile Drug Treatment Program, Williams’ department meets with the child and their family to go over the program and the requirements.

“Once we've talked to the family, and they get a SUD (Substance Use Disorder) diagnosis from their provider and meet other requirements, then they're eligible to start Juvenile Drug Treatment Court,” Williams said.

Williams said she’s thankful for all the opportunities the internship has given her. She’s always wanted to be a lawyer, but she wasn’t sure what kind of lawyer until she started working in the Juvenile Drug Treatment Court.

“Working at my internship has not only shown me what I want to do, it’s shown me what I want to avoid,” Williams said. “I think working in a prosecutor’s office is something I’m very interested in.”

Oakland Political Science student Maria Williams hopes to attend law school next year.

Williams wants to work in the prosecutor’s office, not so she can prosecute those who commit crimes, but more so she can help rehabilitate people.

“I thought that the law was rigid, and non-wavering, which attracted me due to its consistency and stability,” Williams said. “I’ve come to realize that it is not only a collection of codes, statutes and documents that detail what you cannot do, but instead a powerful tool to turn the attitudes of people to things that they can in fact do. I always knew I wanted to be an attorney, but I have never been as sure as I am now that I want to wield the law as a force for second chances, especially for juveniles.

“The patience that I developed and my ability to advocate for my kids, while assessing different situations have shown me that I can contribute to the legal field,” Williams added. “It simply would not be enough to support the system. I have to do my best to shape it.

“The more I took the time to listen, the more I realized how wrong I had been about what it meant to serve the law. To serve the law is to serve the lives that it affects in a way that stays with people even after they leave the arms of the court.”

Juvenile Drug Court Youth and Family Caseworker Victoria Martinuzzi said Williams has been a pleasure to work with.

“Maria is a go-getter and takes initiative,” Martinuzzi said. “She’s always willing to try something new and adapts so well to any challenges thrown her way. She has taken to the world of juvenile justice, which is not an easy one. She has a natural ability to connect with our youth and does an excellent job in presenting at court hearings.”

Martinuzzi is a two-time Oakland graduate. She earned a Bachelor’s in Political Science in 2010 and a Master of Public Administration in 2017.

“Whenever I get an intern, I always secretly hope they are an OU student,” Martinuzzi said. “I know how well OU prepares students for internships — you can see it in their professionalism, writing and communication skills. I see all of those things and more in Maria!”

Williams said a lot of people don’t recognize how much work is put into the drug treatment courts, but she’s really enjoyed her experience.

“I don't really feel like an intern, and how the intern jobs are usually classified, because I do get to work hand-in-hand with all of these kids,” Williams said. “I've seen some kids graduate from the program and it's extremely rewarding to see them from when I met them to graduation. It's just very fulfilling to see how far they have come. And it’s attributed to me, and the whole team and the work that we do.

“I also think it's very cool that I actually get to present in court, in front of the judges,” Williams added. “I get to speak, and I get to practice my skills that eventually I'll want to use as a lawyer. It’s amazing that they trust me to do that, and it's built up my confidence.”

Oakland education

Williams said the Oakland University Political Science program has helped prepare her for her internship and for law school, which she hopes to attend next fall. 

“You’re able to meet so many people and able to form close connections with the professors at Oakland,” Williams said. “I'm able to ask the professors questions during class or their office hours. Just that in itself, has given me the confidence to communicate properly with people, especially those who are of higher authority.”

Williams is a member of Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society and said that’s been a huge benefit. OU’s Pi Sigma Alpha chapter has won the best chapter award for 12 straight years.

"We got to go to Washington, D.C. in February and we got to attend the research conference there,” Williams said. “I presented research there, and it’s awesome to have opportunities like that. The Political Science program always has a ton of events going on too. ”

Associate Professor of Political Science Julie Walters said Williams brings energy, focus and leadership to the Political Science program, both in and outside the classroom.

“Sometimes people with high intellect and academic success can tend to forget they live in a world with others who have myriad talents dissimilar from their own, becoming comfortable emanating a lack of humility and inability or unwillingness to engage with others different from themselves. That is the opposite of Maria,” Walters said. “I know her as the student who uses her strengths to also benefit others, doing so with a spirit of humility and a sense of, ‘We are all in this together, might as well find common ground and work together.’ ” 

Williams also took part in the Diplomacy Lab, a State Department initiative that harnesses research and innovation of university students and faculty to address global challenges.

OU’s students were tasked with doing research on the politics of military coups in West and Central Africa and then present their findings to State Department officials tasked with shaping U.S. foreign policy in those regions.

The students worked under the supervision of Political Science Professor Matthew Fails.

“There was a team of eight of us and basically we were researching the resurgence of military coups in West African countries that were previously colonized by the French, so they have a legacy of colonialism, and now they're having a resurgence of military coups,” Williams said. “We're trying to find a connection as to why and if there was a correlation between the two. Then we were all assigned a country as our independent case study, and then we put it all together at the end. My country was Sudan, so I was tasked with looking at Sudan and how their legacy of colonialism kind of contributed to their coups. My paper was more than 40 pages of my individual case study. We put that all together and presented it to the State Department. At the end. It was very rewarding. And it was literally a class of diplomats, and we were just sitting there educating them.”

Williams won the Frank Lepkowski Undergraduate Research in Writing Award, Big Ideas Oakland Award, OU Distinguished Scholar Award, Village Club Scholarship, B Klein Scholarship and earned President’s List honors. She said she enjoyed the different opportunities she had to do research, including the diplomacy lab.

“I really enjoyed Diplomacy Lab because it gave me an opportunity to do research for something that wasn't just like a five-page, double-spaced paper at the end of a class,” Williams said. “It was meaningful research that actually went to someone rather than just a professor to be graded. And what I thought was also really cool is that Professor Fails helped us to do statistical analysis. It was really interesting to have data that we collected from other data sets and put all that into our system. The coolest part was pressing enter and seeing all the graphs formulate.”

Williams will graduate from OU in December and plans on taking a little time off before starting law school in the fall of 2026.

“I feel like I’m doing so much right now, but I can do a lot more once I have my law degree,” Williams said.