University of Louisville senior Lazaro Donis-Munoz is a vice president in student government and is aiming to become a lawyer. He says the University of Louisville began preparing him for a successful career long before he set foot on the Belknap Campus. Donis-Munoz took advantage of classes taught by UofL Brandeis School of Law faculty and students while he attended Central High School in Louisville. 

“The things you learn from those classes at Central directly translate to the university,” Donis-Munoz said. “I’m currently studying constitutional law and political science and a lot of the things we’re doing are the same things we learned about at Central.”

Donis-Munoz and 36 other Central students, most of whom are minorities, came up through the law magnet program and are currently attending UofL. It’s part of UofL’s Signature Partnership which is designed to improve education and economic opportunities for west Louisville residents. Joe Gutmann is a UofL graduate, former prosecutor and current UofL law school faculty member who teaches at Central and leads the law magnet program.

“If people knew the commitment of this university towards our kids as much as they know the athletic department, they’d be really proud of the university,” Gutmann said. “UofL is doing amazing things to help people.”

Gutmann, Donis-Munoz and fellow UofL student and Central High School graduate Elliott Kelly Jr. talked about their experiences and the success of the UofL/Central H.S. partnership on UofL Today with Mark Hebert.