By Rebecca Keister
PBN Staff Writer

There’s busy, and then there’s Linn Foster Freedman’s schedule.

Freedman, a Nixon Peabody lawyer, divides her time between the firm’s Boston and Providence offices. She is president of the Foundation for Rhode Island Day Schools and serves on the boards of Roger Williams University Law School and the Rhode Island Business Group on Health, as well as serving on the advisory board of the Women Entrepreneurs in Science and Technology.

This is, of course, in addition to her day job and the several professional associations to which she belongs. She recently added to that roster a position on the advisory board for the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship [NFTE] New England, the regional arm of a national, New York City-based organization that works to provide programs that keep students from communities with low-income levels in school through entrepreneurship opportunities that teach how to turn “street smarts” into “business smarts.”

PBN: Your career is in law but much of your outreach work is dedicated to education. Can you explain your commitment to the latter?

FREEDMAN: I feel very strongly that education and access to education increase opportunities both from a financial and a security point of view. I care very much about making sure that there’s appropriate access for everybody to the highest level of education that they are able to achieve.

PBN: What drew you to become involved with the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship [NFTE]?

FREEDMAN: Why I’ve committed is because regular school doesn’t appeal to many students. Many students don’t see the relevance of history and literature in what they want to do and what they’re [passionate] about. I don’t think we have the best avenues for kids who don’t find the traditional school day to be relevant to what their passion is. NFTE, I think, fills that gap in so many ways because they’re providing opportunities and real-life experiences and requirements. I am committed because it is a relevant education for kids who are going to drop out of school because they find it boring.