Fanning the Flames of Your Dreams

Being a college student means experiencing new things. These new things are supposed to enhance your education and continue the flame of your future goals. My future goals are to attend a top law school and become a Criminal Prosecutor for the state of New Jersey or New York. For me, this meant interning at a Criminal Court. This experience was one I never thought possible as a young naïve almost-third year college student. I can honestly say this was one of the best experiences that I encountered in a short 8+ weeks.

I went in to the Superior Court in Newark, Essex Vicinage not knowing what my duties would be; at first I wasn’t the happiest. I was told I’d be working on a BIG project of expunging unwanted papers from past court files. I was more excited than I should have been. I was in the Criminal Records Room, otherwise known as “the vault”…how thrilling! I sat at a small desk with another intern a year older than me and unstapled files, recycling the unneeded ones. I thought this was it for my internship and although I wasn’t learning much, I was making a few connections. As the weeks went on, my internship experience skyrocketed.

My luck was at its peak this week when I found out about a murder trial happening in my building only 1 floor down. So I went to my boss and she was happy to let me sit in. Sitting in was more than enough for me but I ended up meeting and conversing with the Presiding Judge in the Criminal Division; you can imagine how ecstatic I was. It seemed the judge liked having me around so he let me become his “intern” for 3 weeks where I watched the trial from a different perspective, talked with the judge about his thoughts on the trial, and made copies and helped the law clerk with her duties. This was more than I ever asked for, but it is what I hoped for. The judge gave me advice for law school, introduced me to the leading prosecutors in the building (which was my favorite part), and initiated conversations with the attorneys on the case.

This experience was better than my wildest dream. I gained connections that could help me after law school, as well as an almost (praying) shoe in for an internship next summer with the Presiding Judge. This never would have been possible without getting out of my comfort zone and asking to sit in on the trial. The trial, which I saw from almost the beginning to the jury’s verdict, was possibly the best thing I have ever seen and solidified my desire to become a criminal prosecutor. I couldn’t have asked for anything better and I can only hope for better experiences in the future.

– Matti Stewart (December 8, 2017)

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