Working hard is the single most important factor to outcome.
That was just one of several life tips shared by Judge Kathleen Hogan visited Queensbury High School on Monday, Oct. 6.
During her visit, Hogan proffered frank advice to students from the Criminal and Personal Law and Business Law classes while sharing stories from her days as a prosecutor in Brooklyn, where she litigated felony cases.
“Working hard is the single most important factor to outcome,” she said. “I’ve tried a lot of cases. I’ve tried a lot of murder cases. I can tell you right now, the reason the cases went the way they went wasn’t because of skill. It was because of preparation.”
Hogan, the first female district attorney in Warren County, currently presides in the Court of Claims in Albany County and has served as a judge for nine years.
“The way you carry yourself is extremely important,” said Hogan, who greeted every student with a handshake. “Every one of you put out your hand and looked me in the eye. That’s really important, and it’s going to be really important when you’re going out into the workforce.”
Hogan, who grew up in Hudson Falls, is the cousin of QHS teacher Sarah Hogan-Gauci, who teaches Criminal and Personal Law at Queensbury High School.
“It’s really important for you guys to understand you control your future,” Hogan said. “You control where you go, what you achieve. There’s no barrier to you. The only barrier is going to be something that you limit yourself with. So whatever you want to do in your life, you can do it.”
She encouraged students to set goals, work hard to achieve them and help people along the way.
“If you’re in a position to help somebody, don’t wait to be asked,” Hogan said. “Help people … because there’s a ripple effect to life. If you do that, then you’re going to be spreading goodness.”
She implored the students to put away their phones and step away from social media.
“I used to have a fake account to follow drug dealers,” she said, eliciting laughs from the students. “And what drug dealers posted on their account was just ridiculously easy. It was shooting fish in a barrel to convict them, because they told you everything they were doing.”
Before taking questions from students, she told them all to remember their G-T ratio.
“When you die and meet your maker, you’d better damn well be able to say that you gave more than you took,” Hogan said. “Your give-take ratio — are you a giver or are you a taker? And I submit to you that being a giver is a gift.”