President’s Award recipient makes the case for persistence and determination

If you’re causing trouble or trampling people’s civil rights, Ashley Torrez will see you in court. Not for a few years — the Political Science major and Legal Studies minor has to finish law school first.

But once she does, watch out. Torrez, this semester’s Metropolitan State University President’s Award recipient, has already won awards for her courtroom litigation. And she has determination that won’t quit.

The first time she enrolled at MSU Denver, Torrez was 20 years old, living on her own, supporting herself and expecting a son. And, as a first-generation student, the college experience — from signing up for classes to navigating financial aid — combined with working to support herself and impending motherhood, became overwhelming. “I had to drop out.”

She put her goals on hold until her children (she has two now) were preschool age. Then she tried again. This time, still working, still parenting, she succeeded. She graduates this May with a 3.8 grade point average and a clear sense of purpose. And the President’s Award.

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The second time around, she said, “I decided I was interested political science,” after experiencing the power and difference political leaders made in people’s lives during Covid.

Majoring in Political Science led to discovering her true mission. She took a Constitutional Law class “and really just fell in love with the law and legal discourse. I loved seeing how laws have been interpreted over the course of history in the U.S.,” she said.  “I realized that was where my passion was.”

That’s when she added a Legal Studies minor and joined the University’s Mock Trial team. Each fall, Mock Trial teams nationwide are given a legal “case,” sometimes criminal, sometimes civil. Team members are assigned roles and prepare to argue either side prosecution or defense, plaintiff or defendant. Only when competition starts do they learn which side they’ll argue on a given day.

Torrez excelled on the team. According to Jeremy Castle, Ph.D., associate professor of Political Science and instructor of the Mock Trial course, Torrez “stands out as a gifted leader and one of the most talented public speakers I have ever worked with.”

He’s not the only one she impressed. Torrez won three outstanding attorney awards in tournament competitions. Of those, one in particular sets her apart. During a tournament in Colorado Springs, a teammate became too ill to compete. So, Torrez filled in at the last minute, delivering closing arguments on both the plaintiff and defendant side in separate competition matches. (During tournaments, each college often fields more than one team.) Her last-minute closing statement was strong enough, Castle wrote, that she won outstanding attorney for the effort.

Now, she plans to attend law school and to stay in the courtroom. In competitions, she liked criminal cases better, she said. But she’s drawn to civil rights cases. Ultimately, she’d like to become a judge. With her “grace under pressure and ability to think rationally,” Castle wrote, “I believe Ashley has the character and temperament to be an outstanding judge.”

In any case, her experience at MSU Denver demonstrated that “this is the path I’m supposed to be on,” she said.