Determined to become a reproductive-rights attorney, Berger enrolled at Rutgers-Newark because of its commitment to public interest, strong clinical program, and affordable tuition. She founded the Rutgers-Newark Law Students for Choice chapter during her first year. After completing an internship with National Advocates for Pregnant Women, Berger expanded her areas of interest to include issues surrounding poverty and race. Rooted in a passion to help the underrepresented in society, Berger's project will combine legal representation, advocacy, and community education for children leaving the foster care system due to age.
Having a history of advocating for the reproductive rights of women, Berger now wants to provide a full range of legal and social services to teens transitioning out of foster care to help them lead empowered lives.
"I interned with Lynn Paltrow at National Advocates for Pregnant Women my first summer," Berger said, "and became more knowledgeable about issues surrounding poverty and race, as well as expanded my understanding of what 'reproductive rights' really means."
"The next year, I began working with teen moms in foster care for my social work internship, and the shift in my focus from reproductive rights to foster care policy and advocacy evolved really naturally. Now, with my Equal Justice Fellowship, I will provide a full range of legal and social services to teens transitioning out of foster care to help them lead more empowered lives, which is what advocating for reproductive rights always meant to me in the first place."
Having grown up in a privileged home in West Los Angeles, Berger is an unlikely candidate to identify with the underdog. Her earliest awareness of social injustice developed when she was somewhat ostracized by her exclusive private school classmates because her family did not own a plethora of cell phones and did not even have a home computer.
"I think that being made to feel as though I was less than, even though I was still in a privileged position within the larger society, helped develop my social consciousness," Berger said.
The Equal Justice Works Fellowship program, the nation's largest postgraduate legal fellowship program, places new lawyers from law schools across the country in two-year assignments at public-interest organizations. In September, Berger will implement her project as a fellow of the Alliance for Children's Rights in Los Angeles.
What Berger enjoys most about the study of law is studying how the law has changed over the years.
"It was not so long ago that interracial marriages were illegal, that women did not have the right to choose their reproductive futures, and that one could break the law purely because of his or her sexuality," Berger said.
"We still have a long way to go before everyone is treated equally under the law, but studying how legal activists enacted change is both inspiring and educational."
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"An enormous percentage of homeless youth in America are former foster youth, and I believe this is a tremendous waste," Berger said. "These youth have so much potential but are given less than a decent chance to survive and thrive."
Berger, who holds a B.A. from Barnard College, will receive a J.D. and an M.S.W. from Rutgers in May. She is an editor of the Rutgers Race and the Law Review. In addition to keeping up with her studies and projects, Berger mentors adolescent girls through Girls Write Now, a nonprofit group that pairs adult women writers with teen girls in New York City public high schools who are interested in writing.
"High school is a difficult time for many girls, and Girls Write Now provides both a safe haven and a support network," Berger said. "We help these girls find their voices, express themselves through writing, and create strong communities of women at a time when many of them are questioning their capabilities."
