Kailey Burger

“Cheerfully” is the closing Kailey Burger uses when ending her emails to others. Whether she is performing legal research for Washington University in St. Louis’s Juvenile Rights and Re-Entry Project or pulling together the many moving parts of her annual NorthSide 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament and Community Fair, Kailey has the remarkable ability to leave others with a feeling of good cheer.

Kailey, now in her second year at Washington University’s School of Law, is more than just cheerful. She is intellectually astute, politically savvy, a careful organizer and a stellar advocate for young people. Before attending Washington University, Kailey attended Truman State University, where she graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science. There she served as a mentor for youth at the Adair County Juvenile Center.

While an undergraduate, Kailey also established the NorthSide 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament and Community Fair in 2008. This program gives young people from the community the opportunity to meet and compete for prizes in a fun sporting event, while also providing access for hundreds of attendees to free health screenings, school supplies and other social services. Kailey’s passion for public service projects has continued during her Law School studies where she serves as Co-Director of the Public Service Advisory Board and as the Law School Representative for the Community Service Office’s Graduate & Professional Advisory Council. Kailey combined her heart for service with her political interests by establishing the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project, which pairs law students with public school classes to teach constitutional law.

Kailey is also an invaluable asset to the Law School’s Juvenile Rights and Re-Entry Project. This project provides free legal representation to St. Louis area youth as part of the larger Legal Clinic. Kailey is constantly seeking opportunities for growth and development within the program, and has been viewed by her employers more as a colleague than a student. Professor Mae Quinn, one of Kailey’s nominators, describes Kailey as one of those students who inspires everyone around her. “We are so very lucky to count Kailey among our law students – she makes the world a better place every day.”