“A classmate overheard a conversation in which I passionately advocated for the rights of Muslim Americans and told me, ‘You should contact CAIR-FL.’ I did, and I feel in love.”

Sarah E. Anderson is a legal assistant at CAIR-FL. Ms. Anderson attended the University of Florida in Gainesville and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English. After graduation, Ms. Anderson worked at Mother Teresa of Calcutta Catholic School as an aide for first and second grade. She later taught third grade and middle school grammar and writing.

In 2015, Ms. Anderson received an academic scholarship to attend Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, Florida. Ms. Anderson expects to graduate in 2018 with a certificate of concentration in environmental law. As a first year, Ms. Anderson was the runner-up in Stetson’s First Year Oral Appellate Advocacy Competition after she was selected to participate based on the strength of her performance in the first year research and writing course. She gained valuable experience in the administrative regulatory process by externing with the General Counsel’s office of the Southeast Region of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Ms. Anderson expects to graduate this August with her Juris Doctor.

Ms. Anderson was introduced to CAIR-FL through a classmate who heard her passionately advocating for civil rights in their Constitutional Law course. Ms. Anderson contacted CAIR-FL and began her work as a legal intern in the fall of 2016. She quickly fell in love with the work of the organization, and completed 185 pro bono hours between 2016 and 2017. In April of 2017, Ms. Anderson was offered the position of legal assistant in the Immigration Department. She currently works with CAIR-FL’s immigration attorneys, Robert Sichta and Norma Henning, as they provide legal services to the community.