DETROIT - Wayne State University student Rachel Hom will be packing her bags soon for summer study in the Netherlands.

Hom, who lives in Shelby Township, has been awarded the $5,000 Freeman Fellowship, which pays for one law student each year to attend The Hague Academy of International Law, the academic wing of the International Court of Justice.

She's a rising third-year law student, and a rising star, as well, according to Professor Gregory Fox, director of Wayne Law's Program for International legal Studies. He said the Freeman Fellowship is quite an opportunity.

"The leading international lawyers in the world give the courses, and the students are mostly law Ph.D. candidates from Europe," he said. "Not many Americans go. So it is quite special that Wayne can send someone each year."

After her study at The Hague, Hom, like others who go to the academy, will be able to continue her professional and personal alliance though the Association of the Attenders and Alumni of the Academy. The American chapter of the group is sponsored by Wayne Law.

Hom, who earned her undergraduate degree in political science and sociology at the University of Michigan, said she chose Wayne for law school based on its "regional reputation and strong community presence."

"I continue to be amazed by the tangible connections to opportunities across the country and worldwide," she said. "What I appreciate most is the community environment that Wayne Law breeds through its professors and faculty, students and alumni. While law school is still an inherently intimidating and challenging endeavor, I think it makes all the difference in the world to have the support of the people around you."

She was drawn to international law once she started at the school.

"I had limited knowledge of international law, and therefore credit Wayne Law's extensive and growing international department for sparking my interests in the field through courses and opportunities such as Jessup International Moot Court and International Public Interest Fellowships."

As a Jessup team member, Hom spent a year "researching, writing and arguing international issues simulated within the International Court of Justice, which I will have a chance to visit this summer," she said.

She spent last summer as an International Public Interest Fellow working at The Bahamas Crisis Centre, which she said was "one of the most rewarding experiences I could imagine in law school, and also on a personal level."

She worked with victims of domestic violence, and also was able to work doing research with a law professor at The College of The Bahamas and with the office of the Bahamian attorney general.

"The work greatly enhanced my research skills, while deepening my understanding of specific areas of law and general purview beyond American law," Hom said.

After graduation, she plans a career as a litigator in Detroit focusing on "a mix of local and international practice areas."