Schools Rule: Student graduates Cooley Law School with perfect score

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - Graduating from law school is difficult, but doing it with a perfect score is almost unheard of.

“I always kind of felt like I was a little book smart,” said Mina Woodard. “But I never really tried in high school and college.”

Woodard, a Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School graduate, always had a knack for success, but didn’t find her passion until starting law school.

“I tried a little bit but I didn’t try super hard,” Woodard said. “So now that I’ve put my all into it and saw the results it feels really good.”

She received her Bachelors of Arts in Criminal Justice from Michigan State University, but it wasn’t until after her first semester at Cooley Law School did she realize her full potential.

“So when I started after I got my first term grades back and I saw that I got all A’s, I was like, ‘Oh, this is doable,’” Woodard recalled. “So after that I kind of set a personal goal for myself to every term just repeat that over and over.”

And all that hard work paid off. Woodard ranked first in her graduating class with a perfect cumulative grade point average of 4.0, being named summa cum laude -- the highest honor for a graduating student.

Her professors noted her excellence in education and leadership among her peers.

“I don’t think necessarily I’m smarter than anybody,” Woodard said. “I think I’ve just been kind of able to use what I have in my head and make it work for me.”

She attributes her success to her organizational skills, adding everybody has the potential to succeed if they have a healthy balance in their life.

“The biggest thing was just staying organized and having a good schedule and not over filling my day,” Woodard conclude. “I made it work hard play hard.”

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