Giving Day Faces of Philanthropy

Zack Dunn

 

There have been some really memorable moments in the life of Zack Dunn, UTSA Class of 2015.

While at the university, he was twice elected president of the Student Government Association. He was also named Mr. UTSA and the Black Student Union’s Mr. What-A-Man, and selected as an Archer Fellow. He interned in the Obama White House, chaired the University of Texas System Student Advisory Council and graduated summa cum laude from the College of Business.

Then there were the “aha” moments – a mock law school class while he was at UTSA and, later, a chance meeting in an all-night pizza place in Philadelphia.

For Zack, now an associate with the prestigious New York law firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, LLP, all those special moments had a major influence on his life. But he says he owes a real debt of gratitude to one opportunity he had at UTSA.

“The credit goes to the Summer Law School Preparation Academy,” noted the alumnus. “I did the program between my sophomore and junior years with some really good friends – Hannah Beck and Boyd Garriott – who were in student government with me. I think it was the first time I really was exposed to what it meant to apply for law school. … Going to the academy that summer gave me that experience, opened my eyes to law.”

It was when a visiting law professor conducted a mock class for Zack’s academy cohort that he really focused on the future. “We set aside the entire session that day – three hours – for us to go through a mock law school class,” he said. “It was three hours and it felt like 10, maybe 15 minutes. I remember leaving that lecture and walking across Bill Miller Plaza on the UTSA Downtown Campus with my friend, Boyd. I remember looking at him, and I said, ‘Dude, I’m going to law school,’ and he said, ‘Dude, me, too.’” (Zack would later be accepted to the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and Boyd to Harvard Law School.)

That other “aha” moment for Zack came when he was studying at Penn Law.

He was walking home late one night when he and a friend decided to stop at a 24-hour pizza place in downtown Philadelphia. “We walk in and see this whole table of people wearing Penn Law t-shirts, and so were we,” Zack recalled. An invitation from one of those law school alums to join them for pizza at 4 a.m. ended in a friendship that would eventually lead Zack to his position with Fried Frank.

But, looking back on all the opportunities that have influenced his life, Zack says he owes a lot to UTSA and the Summer Law School Preparation Academy. “Without the law school academy there is no Penn Law, there is no job at a law firm. There is no career. It really meant that much to me.”

UTSA Giving Day is an opportunity to support programs that make a difference for students like Zack. To learn more, visit givingday.utsa.edu.