How Olto realised her dream of becoming a lawyer

By BEVERLY PETER
IT has always been a childhood dream of Olto Thomas to become a lawyer someday.
So when she was recently admitted to bar, she felt relieved and happy.
“I always knew that it was never too late to dream a new dream or to pursue an old dream. To become a lawyer was my childhood dream. But it is not the end. Since it is a new area for me, there is still more to learn.”
Olto is the eldest in family of eight – three biological and five adopted siblings – of Yongomugl in the Sinesine-Yongomugl, Chimbu – the children of Pastor Thomas and Elis Will.
She attended the Prenorkwa Primary School in 1998 before going on to the Kundiawa Lutheran Day High School where she completed Grade 10 in 2003. She attended the Kerowagi Secondary School in 2004 and 2005.
Olto sent her application to the University of PNG to study law and listed Political Science as her second choice. The university accepted her in 2006 – but to pursue the Political Science programme.
Disappointed of course, but she enrolled in the School of Humanities and Social Science and graduated with Bachelors of Arts degree on April 16, 2010.
Olto was working for the Ombudsman Commission when the US Government awarded her the Hubert Humphrey Scholarship to study public policy analysis and public administration at the Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, from Aug 11, 2015 to June 10, 2016.

“ I always knew that it was never too late to dream a new dream or to pursue an old dream. To become a lawyer was my childhood dream. But this is not the end.”

She returned home after completing her studies and re-joined the Ombudsman Commission.
But that childhood dream to become a lawyer remained in her thoughts and plans for the future. So in 2017, she sent another application to UPNG to study law.
She was accepted in 2018 and left her job at the commission to concentrate on her university course.
Olto finally graduated with a Bachelor of Law degree at UPNG on July 28 last year. As a requirement, she had to complete a one-year training at the PNG Legal Training Institute.
She was admitted to the bar with her colleagues in January.
Because of her determination to become a lawyer, she excelled in her performance at university and was elected the representative of her class of more than 200 law students at UPNG, and 82 colleagues at the training institute.
Her role as the representative was to provide leadership, disseminate information from instructors to the trainees and to represent the class in organised events and activities.
So with two degrees under her belt, Olto is satisfied with her achievements – so far.
“Though there were challenges along the way, I didn’t regret a bit of it.”
Lawyer Olto Thomas is happy that she has achieved her childhood dream. Perseverance and determination had been the key to her success.
She thanks her family and friends profoundly for their support.
“They stood by me, believed in me and pushed me to keep on going. All my efforts and the efforts of my hard working parents have finally paid off.”