Jeff's Story

"My son oldest son and his fiancé were scheduled to be married on May 23. But the pandemic derailed all of their plans. The wedding/reception was moved to this August and we all don’t know if it can take place then or not. It was always their hope to be married on their originally-planned wedding day, so we all went to work to see how that could happen. They live in Cook County and could not even apply for a marriage license until 10 days before their “scheduled” event. They applied, but couldn’t get a license until late June. They applied for licenses in both Kane and DuPage counties and were able to get appointments/interviews in both. If the DuPage interview was done in time, they could be married at our home, but we needed an officiant. ‘Hey, I know a judge!’ Enter Judge Robert Douglas. I contacted Judge Douglas and asked if he would be able to marry them on May 23. He said he would be honored to do so. [no pun intended]

Once Alex and Brooke (my son and his fiancé) had their marriage license in hand (May 19), the pressure was on. My wife, Emily, and I went to work to prepare for a wedding in four days… cake and flowers ordered, cleaning and gardening at home… and we connected with Brooke’s parents who arranged to fly here from Florida to attend as a surprise to the couple. We all made it work!

Judge Douglas performed a wonderful ceremony for the loving couple witnessed by both sets of parents, their good friend who had introduced them, and their 2 dogs… plus 60-70 friends and family members watching via Zoom. Judge Douglas says he loves performing marriages when needed, as it is the other side of what he sees in his courtroom each day [Judge Douglas presides over Domestic Relations cases in the 18^th Judicial Circuit Court].

We can’t thank Judge Douglas enough for helping our family out during these unusual times to bring us all some needed happiness."

Jacob's Story

"In February 2020, I was let go from my first full-time paralegal/legal assistant job after three years of service. The next morning, I updated my resume and returned to COD for assistance from the Career Service Center. Thankfully, I did receive at least three interviews including Amazon.com. But while waiting for further updates, COVID-19 put everything on hold. I am still looking for a new full-time job.

During the pandemic, I decided to enlist in the U.S. Army Reserve with a favorable job occupation and a shipping date to Oklahoma in November. Yes, I am excited to finally step out of my comfort zone. But while going through the process including exercising and waiting for my security clearance results, I continue to remain proactive for paralegal jobs in Intellectual Property. Some jobs I found are out-of-state, which I am open to leave home for whatever job I can find in a favorable location.

During my free time, I am able to keep up cleaning my house (mostly my room), catching up with people via LinkedIn and Instagram, studying the rules of the Army, and learning new languages via Duolingo. These languages include Norwegian, Portuguese, Italian, French, Romanian, and German. Russian is tough because of their Cyrillic alphabet! Oftentimes I spend the day watching old episodes of Bar Rescue and 1990’s movies I once loved watching as a kid.

As of today, I am waiting for updates from three interviews in Chicago, Wisconsin, and Texas for jobs in IP. If I do not land a full-time job by October 1, I shall proceed to prepare for the Army Reserve on November 24."

Katy's Story

"Since I have a little bit more free time these days, I broke out my old sewing machine and have been making fashionable masks! I am giving these away to my friends and co-workers, so they can help stop the spread of Covid-19 while remaining stylish! It has helped me feel useful during these times to do my little part."

Meggie's Story

"Now that I have more time after graduating, I've gotten back into my advocacy work starting with Title IX. Many campus survivors don't know what is to become of their case or what protections they have during e-learning so I've been chatting about this issue with local rape crisis agencies. Last Thursday, the Department of Education released their new regulations which are to be adopted by schools (K-12 and University/College) in August. For the last week, I have been reading through 2,033 pages of regulations and I have helped form a coalition for Illinois. Our goal is to work on community education, working with schools to hopefully continue to provide robust support for victims on campus, especially during this pandemic, and hopefully work on drafting and supporting state and federal legislation. My husband took this photo of me during our first coalition Zoom meeting with my lovely quarantine roots and craft area turned into office (so please excuse the mess!)."