¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ

Three Students. One Program. One Lasting Friendship. 

July 2026
By Alexandra Sanchez ’17

For many students, college friendships become cherished memories. For ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ alumni Marisa Ong ’06, Lorrie Walker ’07 and Lupe Lopez ’07, one program sparked a friendship that has lasted more than two decades. 

The three women met through ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ’s Law School Preparation Institute (LSPI), a summer program designed to prepare students for law school. What began as study sessions turned into something much deeper and has become a lifelong support system that has carried them through many life stages, including law school, marriage, parenthood and other life changes. 

For Ong, joining LSPI was a pivotal moment. 

“I thought it was a fantastic program,” she said. “I learned so much. I’m absolutely confident that I would not have been able to get into the law school that I did without LSPI.” 

Ong, who graduated from ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ in three years and completed both phases of LSPI in a single summer, credits the program for helping prepare her for the LSAT and ultimately law school at the University of Michigan. Beyond academics, she gained something she never expected. 

“I made some lifelong friendships during LSPI,” Ong said. “Specifically, I met Lorrie and Lupe during phase one, and we became fast friends. Fast forward 20 years, and we’re still good friends.” 

For Walker, the path to LSPI began after transferring to ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ from El Paso Community College. Unsure of her future but interested in political science, she found herself encouraged to apply for the highly competitive program. 

“Everything about it just made me so excited,” Walker said. “It gave me purpose and motivation. I didn’t even know before that I wanted to go to law school, but once I was in LSPI, I realized this was exactly what I needed.” 

Being in LSPI, she realized she was surrounded by students with the same mindset and motivation, all with a strong sense of purpose and drive. 

“It was a group of people who all wanted to do big things,” Walker said. “I felt really motivated by them.” 

One favorite memory still stands out for Ong: celebrating the completion of LSPI’s first phase at Lopez’s family restaurant in Socorro. 

“It felt like a huge accomplishment at the time,” Ong said. “We all just had a fantastic night celebrating.” 

For Walker, several memories about their friendship stand out. One particular memory from the LSPI program was when she and her cohort took the LSAT. After the strenuous test, they all came out to a ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ Football tailgate, which was the perfect way to de-stress after months of studying. 

Although the three friends eventually attended law schools across the country—Ong at the University of Michigan, Lopez at George Washington University and Walker at the University of Texas—distance never weakened their friendship. 

“There were points where we were more in touch than others,” Ong said, “but we always kind of found our way back to each other.” 

Today, their friendship looks different than it did during their ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ days, but it remains just as meaningful. The trio now prioritizes an annual girls trip, with past destinations including Las Vegas, Sedona and Park City. 

“We text, we schedule these trips, and we commit to it even when it’s hard,” Walker said. “You have to value the friendship, and you have to put in the work.” 

Their support for one another extends beyond friendship and into their professional lives. When Ong was considering a major career transition after years as a federal prosecutor, it was Walker who helped connect her with the law firm where she now works. 

“I wouldn’t have this job or made that connection but for Lorrie,” Ong said. “It’s really amazing the way it all worked out.” 

Today, all three women work in different areas of law, but they continue to lean on one another through life’s challenges and milestones. 

“It’s really important to have strong female supporters in your corner,” Ong said. “To have a friendship that has transcended decades and marriage and children. It's something I value a lot.” 

For Walker, the friendship represents one of life’s greatest gifts. 

“The fact that I have found women that I love deeply, respect and can call on when I need it is one of the most valuable things in my life,” she said. “I’m super fortunate to have them.” 

When asked what this friendship meant to Lopez, she said, “After ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ, the three of us went our separate ways. I went to Washington, D.C., then New York for over a decade. Lorrie went to Austin, then California. Marisa went to Michigan, then New Mexico. We could not have been more scattered: different time zones, cities and chapters of our lives.” 

Lopez shared that through their own challenges and moments of insecurity as practicing female attorneys, they were able to gain resilience at ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ. “What ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ and LSPI gave us was resilience. We knew walking into most situations that we were the underdogs. And that’s OK. It maybe didn’t hand us the confidence we wanted, but it gave us certainty that we were gritty enough to figure it out every step of the way.”