24-year-old Yamuna Menon created history and left many in awe of her dedication and determination. On Sunday, the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) Bengaluru witnessed a proud moment during its 28th annual convocation ceremony.
IDIA (Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access to legal education) Scholar and NLSIU student Yamuna Menon bagged 18 gold medals out of a total of 48 medals in the virtual convocation ceremony.
Her Extraordinary Achievement
Yamuna, who belongs to Kerala, was awarded the medals for excellence in the following subjects: (i) Business & Corporate Laws; (ii) Torts Law; (iii) Public Law; (iv) Constitutional Law; (v) Contracts Law; (vi) Criminal Law; and (vii) Property Law.
Additionally, she was awarded the title of ‘Best Outgoing Under-Graduate Student’ among others. While expressing her happiness for the great achievement, she mentioned:
“More than anything, I am glad to see the smiles on my parents’ faces”
Her parents, Mohan Kumar and Usha, are her pillar of inspiration. While sharing her success mantra, Yamuna said the support she received from her parents and teachers has always driven her. While sharing how she was inspired to follow the path of law, Yamuna shared:
“During my Class 10 vacation, I had helped my neighbour, who had served as a senior lawyer at the Supreme Court. He was writing a poetry book and I was helping him with some computer works. The constant tales of courtrooms narrated by him evoked an interest in me. I was drawn to the field,”
The Proud moment
While Yamuna bagged 18 medals, the other 20 students earned the remaining 30 medals. As per the official,
“Yamuna became the first student to win the highest number of medals (18) in the NLSIU history,”
Yamuna is an IDIA (Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access to legal education) scholar from Kerala. She secured admission to the law school through the competitive Common Law Admissions Test (CLAT) in which she scored 28th rank in 2015. She was one of the two students, who were awarded the scholarship for high ranking in the entrance test.
What’s Next?
Yamuna has since secured a seat in Trinity College at prestigious Cambridge University for post-graduation in law. Her paper on Sumangali Scheme in the Tamil Nadu textile sector was published in the Cambridge Law Review.
Though she has been offered a job, she plans to continue her higher studies in LLM. As a next step, Yamuna would like to pursue her post-graduate studies at Cambridge University before coming back to India.
“I have been offered admissions at Oxford Law University and Trinity College, Cambridge. I have chosen Trinity College as it is very prestigious and I can get good exposure in international law,” she added
At IFORHER, we are in awe of Yamuna Menon for her inspiring achievement. We wish her luck for the future endeavor and hope her inspiring achievement would inspire many more to turn their dreams into reality.