Jenner Law is thrilled to announce Bella Ramirez as a winner of its 2026 Make A Difference Scholarship. Bella is a first-year student at Cardozo School of Law in New York City.
She spoke with us between classes, fresh out of Civil Procedure, about her path from investigative journalism to the law and the difference she plans to make.
A Reporter at Heart
Bella grew up in South Florida, the daughter of a university academic advisor and a sergeant who oversees beach operations. She graduated cum laude from Boston University in 2025 with degrees in journalism and in philosophy and political science.
“For the longest time, I thought I was going to be an investigative reporter, literally since before I was a teenager,” she said. “I was really invested in pursuing the truth, and I’m still guided by that. In everything that I do, I always want to uphold truth.”
Her advocacy began even earlier. In February of her freshman year of high school, a gunman killed seventeen people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, about twenty minutes from her home. Bella organized a county-wide rally and registered hundreds of voters. The tragedy still weighs on her.
“As a 14-year-old, I was seeing my peers, and that’s a horrifying thing. But now, at 23, I look back and I see 14-year-olds, and it’s even more devastating.”
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Finding Her Voice
Mentors steered Bella toward journalism, and she excelled. As an intern in the Investigations Department at NBC News, she helped uncover federal student aid fraud and barriers to SNAP benefits. But she found that the profession asked her to stay quiet about the causes she cared about most.
“I had to email Standards asking if I could sign a petition against defunding the library in New York,” she recalled. “They said I could write a story about it, but I couldn’t sign a petition.”
That moment clarified what she wanted. “I wanted the research that I was doing to go toward complaints and toward change,” she said. “The part of me that cared about advocacy never went away, and I started to get upset that that part of me was quiet.”
The First in Her Family
Bella is the first in her family to attend law school, and she chose Cardozo in part because of its commitment to students like her. Cardozo offered her a generous scholarship and placed her in its Gates Scholars Program for first-generation students. That gave her a built-in community of classmates who, as she put it, sometimes “have to explain what law school is to our family members a little bit more.” She is also a member of Cardozo’s Public Service Scholars Program.
Just weeks into her first year, she is thriving. “I feel so much more myself in law school,” she said. “Even on the days where there’s a million pages of case law reading, it’s still the best time ever.”
She has also wasted no time getting involved. Bella is a 1L representative for the Latin American Law Students Association, a member of the American Constitution Society and the Public Interest Law Students Association, and a senator on the Student Bar Association. In that role she is working to open a food pantry on campus.
“I overheard some of my friends’ stomachs growling in class,” she said, “so I just want to make sure that we can do stuff to help people.” She is also training with the Unemployment Action Center to help people secure unemployment benefits.
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From Articles to Arguments
Bella’s years as a reporter gave her a head start. When her Civil Procedure class covered PACER, the federal court records system, she already knew it well. “As an investigative reporter, I was using PACER and RECAP and CourtListener to read all of these dockets and these cases and get that research down,” she said. “Now I’m just translating it into arguments instead of articles.”
She believes that background will make her a better advocate. “Investigative reporting helps me have a lot of critical thinking, where I’m not just going to take something as it’s given,” she said. “I question all the different sides of a case and understand what may be missing, so that I can hopefully tell the most persuasive argument.”
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A Vision for the Future
Bella plans a career in impact litigation. At Boston University, she studied food insecurity among college students and how government and institutional programs can reduce student hunger. As a lawyer, she wants to expand the social safety net that helps people through hard times.
“It’s very much on my mind that a lot of things, not just law school, are pretty unaffordable. I want to be part of the change to make things a little bit easier for people, so that people can eat, people can have a place to live, and people have a better quality of life all around.”
When we told Bella she had won, her response reflected what the scholarship means for her career choices. “The biggest thing I was concerned about was debt,” she said, and the fear of “being shackled by debt” and unable to take the public interest jobs where she can make a difference. “This is changing my world. You’re making a difference in my life.”
Jenner Law is immensely proud of Bella Ramirez. Her determination to turn the truth into change embodies the spirit of the Make A Difference Scholarship.
About Jenner Law and the Make a Difference Scholarship Program
Jenner Law is committed to paying it forward with our Make a Difference Scholarship. We support students who show exceptional academic performance and a clear vision of how their education can make a meaningful impact on the world.
One of the founding principles of Jenner Law is compassion for our clients and a commitment to improving the lives of those around us. We have a proud tradition of charitable giving that reflects our obligation to advance social justice.
Through the Jenner Law Donor Fund and our annual scholarship program, we strive to promote positive change and support people who are dedicated to using their education for the greater good.
Congratulations once again to Bella Ramirez, a 2026 Make A Difference Scholarship winner. We look forward to watching the difference she makes.