Journalist: John Manigah (ORU)
Who is Governor Schonfield?
Jacob Schonfield is a senior history major at the University of Oklahoma and is currently serving as Governor of O.I.L.’s 56th session. Governor Schonfield joined O.I.L. because of an email he received inviting him to join moot court when he was a freshman at OU. Schonfield’s original intention was to eventually attend law school, and moot court sounded like an opportunity that would well prepare him for that endeavor.
From there, he ended up loving the house so much that he stopped doing his case work in moot court, and by the end of his first week, he was serving as an assistant chief clerk in the house. The following year, he was promoted to Chief Clerk, then Speaker (He admits he loves the house), and finally elected as Governor. According to Schonfield, the chief clerkship is what prepared him more than anything for the governorship. “I’d almost say being chief clerk prepared me for Governor, than anything else,” said Schonfield.
Governor Schonfield’s leadership style
Governor Schonfield describes himself as a leader who is always willing to listen and receive input from others to find the best possible solution for any situation. “As Governor, as Speaker, or any role I’ve held, it’s always been a goal of mine to be there in the trenches with whoever is doing the work,” said Schonfield. He believes that without the support and backing of his team, being a great leader is not possible. “None of the roles I’ve held are jobs you can do alone…I must rely on other people working with me,” said Schonfield.
Next steps…
Currently, Governor Schonfield serves in the Oklahoma National Guard as a paralegal specialist, which involves assisting lawyers with paperwork processing. When Schonfield graduates, he intends to volunteer for a tour abroad with the National Guard to gain a broad view and understanding of the law and acquire more practical experience. During his time on tour, Schonfield will study for the LSAT and hopes to attend law school to become an attorney. “My aspiration right now is to become a judge, but we will see where all of that goes,” said Schonfield
The impact Schonfield hopes to leave.
Schonfield wishes to leave an impact by instilling the values of constructive debate and collaboration of different ideas. “I think the most valuable thing we have in O.I.L. is that you won’t find another place where there is an opportunity to disagree with people in an environment that will not lead to you hating them,” said Schonfield. “It is a hard thing to instill; you can’t exactly write into our statute, you have to engage constructively with people or work on that skill, but I want to incentivize that as much as possible,” said Schonfield. He is also very proud to have secured O.I.L.’s financial future by balancing the budget and says he would rather be a firefighter over a police officer, so he can make his main priority saving people.