Legal News
Leon Boykins was happy with his life as a musician in New York City, but one thing he's learned along the way is to stop to and listen when opportunity knocks — you just may want to open that door.
Boykins, a native of Pittsburgh and accomplished bassist, is a 3L student at the University of Michigan Law School, with an interest in education law.
His journey to law school has been filled with some amazing experiences that have helped him grow and kept him motivated to find ways to use his creative talents and passions to impact change.
Boykins has been making music since his elementary school days in Pittsburgh, a city well-known for its rich history of jazz. His uncle was the first of many music teachers, giving him piano lessons that laid the foundation for learning the bass in middle school.
A standard size upright bass can exceed 6 feet in height from scroll to endpin, which can be tricky for a young student to play. But Boykins was intrigued.
"At first, I really enjoyed the challenge of trying to figure out how to make music on such a giant instrument," Boykins recalls. "Over time, I really began to appreciate the role that bassists usually play in musical ensembles.
They provide a lot of support for the other instruments but also get to stay out of the spotlight. I would say that this also matches my personality, so I stuck with it."
Boykins earned his bachelor's degree in music from Temple University in Philadelphia in 2007, followed by a master’s degree in music from Manhattan School of Music in 2011. During this time, he also worked in area high schools, which sparked another passion – teaching.
"I volunteered for a while teaching lessons at the creative and performing arts high school in Camden, New Jersey when I was living in Philly and really liked it," said Boykins. "When I moved to New York City, I decided to try to find a part-time way to keep teaching."
Boykins discovered an outreach program run by Jazz at Lincoln Center called “Jazz for Young People.” He worked as a teaching artist for the program, alongside other musicians who performed at local public schools.
"We would come back to each school three or four times per year, and each time the concert had a different theme such as Jazz and Democracy, or Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement," said Boykins. "Because I did this for so many years, I really got to see the inner workings of tons of public schools, which then piqued my interest in education policy."
In 2014, Boykins applied to a new master’s degree program in education that was being formed as a collaboration between Jazz at Lincoln Center and Hunter College.
"My classes were co-taught by Lincoln Center Teaching Artists and Hunter College professors," said Boykins. "They wanted us to figure out a way to bring our artistic/creative way of thinking into the classroom."
After graduating in the inaugural class, Boykins accepted a job teaching music at a high school in Brooklyn. He used his experiences from Jazz at Lincoln Center to focus on a lot of the same themes and tried to get students interested in live music.
"I liked the challenge and also enjoyed staying connected to how younger generations think about music," said Boykins.
In 2019, he got the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play in the orchestra for the “Dear Evan Hansen” Broadway musical that was touring the United States. The band platform was on the stage, allowing the musicians to see the actors.
"It was really pretty crazy to see how they were able to put on such emotional performances every day, despite what might have been going on in their personal lives," said Boykins. "I found this to be really inspiring."
The schedule was rigorous though, playing eight shows a week, with Mondays off and travelling to a new city nearly every week. The last stop was in Salt Lake City, Utah, in March of 2020, before COVID hit. The production halted until December of 2021.
In April of 2021, Boykins started working as a program director for the Boys and Girls Club in Pittsburgh, which required him to travel to many schools in the area.
"This job reminded me that some of the problems I had seen in New York City public schools were present throughout the country," said Boykins. "The next step was to try to figure out how to study something that would enable me to impact public policy. I was really torn between getting a Ph.D. in ed policy or law school."
One advantage to being an older student, Boykins says, was talking to friends about their law school experiences.
"One common thread was that I should try to talk to students at the schools where I'm applying," he said. "After doing this, I was blown away at the generosity that everyone at Michigan showed me. I had multiple hour-long conversations with students that I had never met which made me think that I'd find a sense of community here that would help with the intense amount of work law school requires."
When Boykins was awarded a scholarship to attend the University of Michigan Law School, he decided it was an opportunity he couldn't turn down. Last fall, he participated in an externship in Governor Gretchen Whitmer's office, to learn more about how education-specific policies are enacted in the Michigan government.
"Learning first-hand about what it is like to work in government was really informative," said Boykins. "While there, we got to forge our own path in terms of work. So, I was lucky to be able to do a bunch of education and environmental policy research. And in the end, we got to meet the Governor."
Boykins entered law school with the goal of working in education policy, but during his studies at Michigan, he's also become interested in environmental and entertainment law.
"For some reason I tried to keep my creative background separate from my studies," said Boykins. "But last semester I took a class in Art Law and loved it. And I worked on an energy sustainability report last year that is actually being used to brainstorm ways to increase energy efficiency in an affordable manner."
Boykins is on track to graduate this spring and has a job lined up at a law firm in Pittsburgh, where his family still lives.
"I'm excited about this as it will be an amazing place to grow and learn as a lawyer," Boykins said. "I hope to try to make connections in local government to see if I can learn more about how education decisions are made."
In his downtime, Boykins tries to squeeze in time to make music.
"I find that it is really nice to have something to focus on besides studying sometimes, so I'm always trying to find time," he said. In January, he had the opportunity to perform at the Blue Llama Jazz Club in downtown Ann Arbor, "which was really a ton of fun," he said.
Boykin's advice for anyone trying to chase their dreams?
"I think it helps to be humble enough to understand when a great opportunity presents itself," he said. "I had no idea signing up for my second master’s degree would lead to a desire to work in education policy... The same goes for the Broadway show. It was a really great way to take a break from NYC, see the country, and make a plan for my next steps.... Lastly, maybe I'm proof that it’s okay to repeatedly change careers as long as you keep finding something that interests you."
Photo courtesy of Leon Boykins
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