Barely three months into her first semester at Harvard Law School, Katie Kirkendall has completely immersed herself into the campus community. To those who knew her at Southwestern, this comes as little surprise.

While taking a demanding course schedule that includes subjects like torts, civil procedure, contracts and legal research, she has joined the Harvard Journal on Legislation (where she is editing an article about reproductive technologies), the Constitutional Society, the Women's Law Association and the Texas Club. Somehow, she also finds time to assist her civil procedure professor with research for a casebook.

"It's not as scary as I expected," she says. "While I was a little intimidated when I arrived--as most students were--it's much more manageable than I thought. I've had a lot of fun and had the time to get involved without falling behind in my classes."

She says the biggest challenge has been adjusting to the Socratic method used by her professors, whereby they select a single student to ask a series of questions about a case or subject. "It's quite a difference from the class discussions we had at Southwestern."

Kirkendall has enjoyed the opportunity to live in an environment much different than her native Seguin or Georgetown. "I'm getting to know the area pretty well. I like going out in Cambridge and Boston, and I even made it to a couple of Red Sox games."

Being a part of a large Texas contingent at Harvard makes her feel a little closer to home and allows her to show her state pride with the Texas Club. The club is sponsored by law firms in Texas who hope to pry these top students away from the Northeast after graduation. They are busy planning a large fall party with plenty of country music.

First-year classes at the law school are broken up into groups of around 70 students called "sections." Kirkendall says this is a good way to make the school seem smaller as they all take classes together. "It gives you a chance to get to know a lot of people really well. I'm acting as my section's social chair, so I get to use our budget to plan fun events."

Kirkendall graduated magna cum laude from Southwestern last May with degrees in psychology and communication. She was a member of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, Student Foundation, the Senior Fund, Psi Chi and the University Committee on Discipline.

She also met her fiancé, Clint Burrus, at Southwestern. He graduates next May and the couple will wed July 26 in Seguin. "Luckily I was able to get a lot of planning done over the summer before I left," she says. Burrus is applying to design schools for architecture in the Boston area.

With what little free time she can find, Kirkendall likes to take morning runs down by the Charles River. She recently joined a wine tasting society and enjoys reading, although she says, "Recently, all I've read are casebooks, so it's not exactly pleasurable!"

A career in commercial litigation, international law or corporate law might appeal to her, as she says she would like to work in a courtroom, but not as much as required by criminal law. "I'd like to work a judicial clerkship for a year and then start my career up here in Boston, New York or D.C. I really like the area, but I'm sure I'll eventually return to Texas."