Downey alumnus elected first Latina president by Harvard Law Review

Photo by Lorin Granger

DOWNEY – The Harvard Law Review has named a Downey Unified alumnus and California-born daughter of Mexican immigrants as its newest president, elevating a Latina to the top of one of the most prestigious U.S. law journals for the first time in its 135-year history.

Harvard Law School student Priscila Coronado, 24, attended Rio San Gabriel Elementary, Doty Middle School and graduated in the top three percent of her class in 2015 from Downey High School.

She is the first in her family to attend college and earned her undergraduate degree from the University of California Los Angeles.

Law Reviews are staffed by the top students at U.S. law schools, who are often recruited for judicial clerkships and other prestigious jobs in the profession. Legal and political luminaries who have worked at the Harvard Law Review include President Barack Obama, who was named the journal’s first Black president in 1990. Three serving members of the U.S. Supreme Court have served as editors.

According to an article published by Reuters, an international news organization, an email sent by Coronado last week shared that her experiences growing up as a Mexican American have informed her perspectives and that she wanted to “work hard to show how being a Latina is an important part of who I am.”

When she was asked by a former Downey High School teacher what it means to be the first Latina president, Coronado replied that it was a difficult question to answer.

“On the one hand, I’d like to work hard to show how being a Latina is an important part of who I am,” she said. “ My perspective as an editor and as President is necessarily informed by the experiences I’ve had growing up Mexican American. On the other hand, I recognize the privileges I have benefitted from (such as growing up in a great public school district and having supportive family and friends). There are countless other Latinas who won’t hold positions like this but are just as intelligent – or more than – I am.”

Her legal interests include education law and disability rights. She is known as a “rigorous scholar and a passionate advocate” both by her Harvard peers and during her time at Downey High School. Currently she is involved in La Alianza, an association for Latinx students and is a Board Member of First Class, an organization established to further support first generation and low-income students at Harvard University.

As a Downey Viking, Coronado was a very well-rounded student. She competed and received a silver medal at the SkillsUSA State Competition in Quiz Bowl; was a California State Federation (CSF) Seal bearer for her academic achievements; participated in wind ensemble and jazz band for two years and concluded her senior year as a section leader in the marching band.

“Honestly, [I] couldn’t have done it without you,” shared Coronado in a recent email to her former Downey High School teacher, Bernie Glasser. “I am fortunate I was able to attend a great public school system and thank you [Mr. Glasser] for teaching us about college admissions.”

When the academic year is done at Harvard Law School, it was shared that she plans to work as a summer associate at Munger, Tolles & Olson, a California-based firm known for consistently ranking among the most selective law firms in the United States that regularly tops lists of the country’s elite law firms.