Lily Wise, a 19-year-old from Effingham, Illinois, will earn a bachelor’s degree in SIU Carbondale’s criminology and criminal justice program on May 10, and through the 3+3 accelerated law program, finish her first year of law school. (Photo by Russell Bailey)
May 01, 2025
19-year-old SIU criminal justice grad earns degree, pursues legal career
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois University Simmons Law School student Lily Wise’s youth belies her determination.
At a time when a majority of 19-year-olds would be finishing their freshman year in college, Wise, who is from Effingham, Illinois, is set to earn a bachelor’s degree from SIU Carbondale’s criminology and criminal justice (CCJ) program during the 1 p.m. commencement exercises on May 10, and continue as a second-year law student.
“I just very much like the challenge, which is why I started school in the first place,” said Wise, who began taking online courses at Lake Land College in Mattoon as a 15-year-old Effingham High School freshman in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I was sitting around for a few months and was like, ‘I never want to have to do this again,’” she said.
Wise noted that she loves law school, and with a laugh, said her “biggest issue” is finding that she can’t work ahead the way she did when taking online courses.
“It’s hard, and that’s what attracts me to it,” she said. “It’s something that’s difficult that I have to work at. I don’t just like gliding through things. I like the challenge.”
Goal-oriented
Matthew Giblin, professor and director of SIU Carbondale’s School of Justice and Public Safety, recalls his first meeting on campus with Wise in spring 2021. She was sitting in his office with a detailed notebook in hand while her mother, Beth, sat in the back of the room.
“Lily knew exactly where she wanted to take her education,” Giblin said. “She asked me question after question about the criminology and criminal justice program and our new program with the law school. I told her she was the most goal-directed student I ever encountered, amazing for someone who was just 15 at the time.”
Wise attended the program’s inaugural Preview Day in fall 2022 and enrolled at SIU Carbondale for the fall 2023 semester, just weeks after earning both her associate degree from Lake Land and high school diploma.
“SIU and Lake Land have a really good rapport to where they have the online transfer equivalency, so when I picked my classes for Lake Land, I would go through and make sure all of them lined up with SIU classes,” she said.
Excelling in SIU’s CCJ program, Wise is the first student to take advantage of the law school’s 3+3 accelerated law program, which allows her to finish her undergraduate degree at SIU while completing her first year of law school.
A Saluki legacy
Wise turns 20 in June. Her mother, her father, Mike, and maternal aunts and uncles all attended SIU Carbondale “and loved it,” Wise said, admitting, though, that SIU wasn’t in her initial plan.
“Then I literally came here once, and I was like, ‘OK, I have to go to SIU. I love it here,’” she said. Wise’s family, including her younger brother, James, a junior at Effingham High School, will be among those attending commencement ceremonies.
Detailed organization
Wise said her mother encouraged her and helped write out scripts to initially assist Wise in talking with college officials over the phone.
Wise also developed the one-inch binder with laminated materials she used to write out important details, class descriptions and other notes. She referred to the binder “for everything” during her last three years in high school and now uses a high school planner to write down her law school assignments.
“I need to see things written out so I can fully grasp what’s going on,” she said, adding that her parents have been encouraging but let her also find her own voice.
“It was always my mom’s idea of, ‘I can talk for you, but I don’t know what you are doing as well as you do,’” Wise said, adding that her mother has been “a hard worker for her whole life.”
“For half my life, she’s had two jobs. She has tried her best to teach my brother and me those same characteristics,” Wise said.
Law school opportunity opens up
An “obsession” with the television show “Criminal Minds” prompted Wise’s interest in forensic science and being a crime scene technician, but she said that particularly in rural areas, it’s typical to first be a police officer. Giblin suggested she pursue the 3+3 program and law school.
Wise is now interested in civil litigation and has an internship with a large civil litigation law firm this summer. She is considering representing hospitals and doctors in medical malpractice cases in the future.
SIU Simmons Law School Professor Peter Alexander had Wise as a student in both the fall and spring semesters in legal writing classes. Wise is a “talented student and an amazing writer” who performed very well, he said.
“In Legal Writing, we use problems that are based on real-life situations that lawyers are called upon to solve, and she excelled in grasping the complex issues that the writing courses required her to address,” Alexander said. “Lily is poised and thoughtful, and she has mastered the tools that lawyers use to provide helpful representation to their clients.”
Outside of class, Wise helps other students who might be struggling with some of the legal concepts they are learning, Alexander said.
“She has shown not only great aptitude for the study of law, but she has also demonstrated an ability to share her knowledge, wisdom and understanding with her peers,” he said. “Those are rare qualities, and we hope to admit more students like Lily to our law school.”
Opportunities opened
Wise recalled concerns at the start that a heavy class load might cause her to miss out on her high school years, but that didn’t happen. Wise played basketball in high school and was with an AAU travel team through her junior year, was a competitive equestrian rider, went to dances, worked and hung out with her friends.
Wise believes it was a benefit that she learned how to balance workload and a social life at an early age and doesn’t believe she missed out.
“If anything, I feel like I have more opportunities than I would have ever gotten,” she said. “The job that I’ve gotten for the summer is something that a million little things had to line up to get me here.”