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Education can insert you inside places your ancestors never dreamed of and make a monumental impact on society. Just ask Princeton defender, Terrell Seabrooks.

Seabrooks, the junior out of West Palm Beach, Fla., is on track to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts from the prestigious Ivy League school. However, this past year has inspired him to strive for more — in more ways than one.

This August, Seabrooks lost his father, Greg, after a bout with COVID-19. In one of his final conversations with his father, Seabrooks shared his intention to study at Harvard Law School. His father stressed the importance of education, and his passing has kindled the fire for Seabrooks to make a generational impact.

A former US Lacrosse All-American who won the 2017 Congressional Debate National Championship, Seabrooks is poised to join the Harvard School of Law as a J.D. candidate and graduate with the Class of 2026. According to 2020 submitted data from the American Bar Association’s National Lawyer Population Survey, African-American lawyers account for 5 percent of resident active attorneys.

We spoke with Seabrooks about his love for lacrosse and how his ambitions led him to Harvard.

“When my great-grandson is born, he will be my faith turned to flesh.” - Nana Hattie

TERRELL SEABROOKS

Hometown: West Palm Beach, FL
Position: Defense
College: Princeton (2018-21)
High School: Oxbridge Academy (2013-17)

What do lacrosse and family mean to you?

At the fundamental level, lacrosse is an expression of fun. It’s what I got to do in order to show my happiness and joy. I started playing when I was in the fourth grade as my football coach suggested it as a spring activity. Since then, it’s been about fun. Lacrosse in Florida at that age, you weren’t thinking about playing college lacrosse. You’re thinking it’s something to do with a bunch of friends. Even into college, it’s about competing. Winning is a lot more fun than losing.

Family is everything to me right now. My immediate family, they are the people who provide the support for me when I need it the most. It takes on a different meaning this Fall with the things I’ve gone through. I’ve been back home and reconnecting with them in ways I haven’t since leaving out to college.

In a bigger sense, family includes the brothers on my team that I play with every single day, the coaching staff around us and our strength and conditioning coaches. The way you go through struggles together, the highs and lows, it’s something incredible. There’s a larger family that we live in, the lacrosse world and the country we live in. The way I was raised, everybody is my neighbor and family. If you can find something to have a common bond over, we are connected as family.

Why is education so important?

As a Black man in America right now, I understood that education was not always granted to my great grandfather, my grandmother, and older family members. 

My father, Greg, unfortunately, passed away this August due to complications of COVID-19. One of the last conversations I had with him was telling him that I was accepted into Harvard Law School. That was three days before he was admitted into the hospital. The conversation was different because at the time he was shielding me from knowing how bad it was and he lived on the opposite end of Florida. Any father that talks to his son doesn’t want to lead-on how things can get. He sounded quieter that day but I didn’t understand why.

What he told my mother was, ‘I want to see him get his first degree.’ My dad never completed high school and realized education was important for opening doors and possibilities that he didn’t always have access to. There are things my dad would school anybody on – things on which he is an unquestionable expert. We have to realize that people walk different strokes in life and they have different ways of getting where they are. Their input and values are just as important as everybody else.

Sometimes people believe if you do something ‘praiseworthy’ or got into a certain school, that it gives you value in this world. That’s not the case. My Dad taught me that on your quest to be excellent, you care for people along your path. This is not a journey you take alone. Each generation we’re trying to leave things better off than what we had, and my parents built and allowed me to use these opportunities. Education is something you must take and keep a hold of because it’s what gives you power in this world right now.

How did your family inspire your pursuit of success?

Each family member gave me something different that contributed to this. My grandmother has been such an influential part of my life. My mother and brother gave me my competitive instinct by never letting me win a game of Candyland or Uno. My sister has a fire in her that I’d love to have. She’s passionate about so many issues and she taught me to find your passion while pursuing it to a great degree. Life isn’t about winning and losing but there’s nothing wrong with competing either. They told me that you must handle yourself with pride and compete to your best ability.

How did you balance academic and athletics?

It started back in high school. Two things I loved were lacrosse and debate. If I didn’t have a lacrosse game, I was debating every weekend. It’s a tough balance at times because debate team travels all over the country and lacrosse also travels. Whatever you’re doing in front of you, put in the complete effort into it. There were some days where I left practice 10 minutes early and got changed for a debate practice in a span of 20 minutes.

There was an understanding that you were a student-athlete and that student aspect is more than important. Time management and being focused on the present are keys to success so you can free yourself to do things you find fun, like lacrosse.

How did social justice advocacy influence your pursuits?

I think my professional decision to attend law school is the biggest one I’ve made so far. [Social justice] played a huge role. You must write a personal statement in order to go to law school. I started my essay with references from “Changes” by Tupac and Ta-nehisi Coates’ book, “Between the World and Me.” I tied those two together because they remind me that although it’s so easy to get pessimistic about the world, we shouldn’t sulk or give up. It is important to work and begin changing the systems – we need to try and get into the room where it happens.

I understood when I wanted to speak out this summer, I couldn’t. Working for the judge, we had to remain impartial and unbiased publically. But I also saw behind the scenes where so much of the work is being done that people can’t talk about every day. During my time there, I worked on a case that involved a no-knock warrant like the unfortunate incident in Louisville. Working on cases that helped people get their proper dues helped restore my sense of hope for the system.

It’s no secret that I want to be a lawyer; I want to be someone who helps reform and improve some of our oldest institutions. If society is like a big machine, then lawyers are the engineers. Lawyers are the people who read the blueprints to that machine as they decipher and help change laws.

Why choose Princeton undergrad and Harvard Law?

I fell in love with Princeton on a debate trip during my sophomore year in December 2015. I loved the campus and everything I saw like Nassau Hall and FitzRandolph Gate. I had a gut feeling for the debate tournament that next Saturday. My high school lacrosse coach insisted that I have a meeting with Princeton’s coaches. I’m not sure if Coach Madalon remembers or not, but he invited me to watch a practice on that trip. Here I was, a Florida kid used to warm weather and I’m standing in the rain and 20-degree weather. The fact that I can be in the most miserable weather and be warm and happy inside meant a lot to me.

I did more research to justify my decision on facts, like how Princeton has a great undergraduate focus compared to other institutions. It’s a choice that’ll pay off in the long run. I don’t regret coming here. The academic opportunities Princeton provides outside the classroom are unique.

I ended up walking on my freshman year and I asked Coach for an opportunity to try out since I was already admitted and didn’t want to leave the game I love. Few programs can compare with Princeton Lacrosse. For whatever reason, I picked them as my team from an early age. Even on TV, it was obvious that 1952 Stadium is one of the best places to play at in college. Being a Tiger was something I always wanted to do.

Our coaches were tough on us at Princeton, and that toughness helped prepare me for Harvard Law. Pulling an all-nighter studying is easy once you have had to run gassers in 20-degree weather five days a week. 

Mental toughness doesn’t go away when you walk off the field and hopefully it sticks with you in the classroom. Athletics make you battle-hardened and that toughness is going to be applied no matter where you go.