Shari Greenleaf knew since the time she was in junior high school that she wanted to be a lawyer despite the fact that she was the first generation in her family to attend college. Even though the odds were against her Greenleaf managed to not only graduate from SUNY Potsdam in 1983 with a degree in political science, she also went on to finish her law degree and become the lawyer she had hoped to become.

Greenleaf’s father was in the U.S. Air Force, and moving around the country, she said, helped shape her perspective of “home.”

“I was a military brat, as they say, and moved around a lot,” she said. “It taught me to be open to strangers and gave me opportunities to see a lot of the country. I don’t think in terms of my hometown; I think about where I live. Where I live is home, and that allows me to feel connected to wherever I may be.”

Having to put herself through college, Greenleaf chose to attend SUNY Potsdam due to its low cost and proximity to her parents who were living in Saratoga Springs.

“For me and my siblings, going to college was uncharted territory,” she said, “I needed to be fiscally prudent, and SUNY was very attractive. Potsdam was attractive because it was small and close to my family.”

While attending Potsdam, Greenleaf said she felt like she became a part of the community at large. Her sister’s family also was living in Potsdam at the time, while her brother-in-law was attending Clarkson University.

“I think I had a greater connection between the two colleges than most,” she said. “My sister was married with children. In fact my nephew was born at the Potsdam Hospital. I had a true feeling of the Potsdam community, which I really respected and cherish still today.”

Greenleaf needed encouragement to achieve her goal of becoming a lawyer. In the mid 1970s, she can recall meeting with her high school guidance counselor and telling her she wanted to become a lawyer. “She discouraged me several times and suggested that I become a teacher or librarian instead. Today, I tell students in middle school that story, and they’re surprised. I tell them that regardless of gender, people can become whatever they want to be.”

Greenleaf credits her professors for giving her the inspiration and motivation she needed to attain her goals. “As a pre-law student, Dr. Richard DelGuidice was huge to me,” she said. “Coming from a family that was not well educated, he gave me the vision that I had an obtainable goal and that I could actually do this.”

Potsdam didn’t just give Greenleaf an education. The experience also taught her to appreciate the act of learning.

“Potsdam taught me how to think and how to embrace learning,” Greenleaf said. “I hear people today say ‘what good is a liberal arts education?’ I can’t support liberal arts education enough. After Potsdam, I obtained a law degree from Syracuse Law School and a degree in risk management. And I am currently enrolled in a graduate program at the College of St. Rose in Albany in education administration. Potsdam taught me this appreciation for learning for learning’s sake.”

Today, Greenleaf is an attorney for the Schenectady City School District, providing legal counsel for school board and administration, contract negotiations, and employee and student discipline issues. She teaches and takes classes at the College of St. Rose, holds a position on the Schenectady County Human Rights Commission, and is the parent of a 19-year-old, Elizabeth.

For current college students, Greenleaf offers this bit of advice: Take risks.

“There are so few times in your life when failure doesn’t matter,” she said. “You need to find out who you are. Take a class that interests you. I was not a musician by any means, but I took a piano class at Crane. Take each opportunity to develop and invent yourself, and try things on to figure out who you are and what you want to be.”