HARRISBURG (July 20, 2021) — The Pennsylvania Bar Foundation recently selected Eve Balistra, a student at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law, to receive $2,500 from its Environmental & Energy Law Section Minority Scholarship.
The scholarship was created to award up to nine scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $2,500 to support historically underrepresented racial/ethnic minority law students attending schools in Pennsylvania. Awardees must evidence that academics, volunteer experience and interests show a commitment to working as an environmental and energy law attorney.
Balistra’s undergraduate studies on insecticides and bees at Muhlenberg College grew her interest in understanding how the law and environment interact and how they affect individuals and communities. With an expected graduation date of May 2022, she aspires to be an environmental lawyer to promote environmental justice and highlight environmental racism by representing and educating people who have been historically disadvantaged by the legal system.
At Villanova, Balistra is a secretary of the Jewish Law Society, a diversity editor and associate editor of the Environmental Law Journal, and a member of the Environmental Inn of Court and the Benjamin Franklin American Inn of Court. She is interning this summer at the Department of Environmental Protection and previously served as a law clerk at Kane, Pugh, Knoell, Troy & Kramer, a research assistant at Villanova University, a legal research assistant at Levy Baldante Finney & Rubenstein and appeals coordinator at the Office of the Delaware County District Attorney.
Balistra plans to use the scholarship money to build a website that can connect organizations and individuals to resources such as speakers and legal aid groups that will empower them to enact change within their communities.
The Environmental & Energy Law Section Minority Scholarship is administered by the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation, the charitable affiliate of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. For more information on this and other scholarships, visit www.pabarfoundation.org.