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Amanda Steele, a º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ senior graduating in May with a double major in political science and history, has been accepted to Harvard Law School. She will begin the program this fall with her eyes set on ultimately practicing civil litigation.

"My goal is to be a compassionate and confident advocate for someone going through a difficult time," says Steele, a first-generation college student from Robbinsville, N.J., who is also minoring in philosophy.

That commitment has been evident throughout her undergraduate career. Steele supplemented her academic experience with the completion of five internships as an undergraduate, including most recently as policy intern with the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender in Trenton. Her internships began in her first year at Rider when she worked simultaneously as a public relations intern with Mercer County Board of Elections in Trenton and in the office of the Honorable Robert Lytle, a judge for the Superior Court of New Jersey. The latter provided vivid firsthand experience of litigators in action.

"I had an office in Judge Lytle's chamber and was able to observe the daily operations of his court," Steele says. "I saw and learned from the different styles of argumentation by prosecutors and defense attorneys and then had the chance to talk to the judge about them afterward and hear his evaluation."

Steele used the experience to experiment with the stylistic skills she witnessed as part of Rider's mock trial team. Her participation coincided with the founding of the team in September 2022. The team exceeded expectations out of the gate, with Rider outperforming the top-seeded team in its first regional tournament and earning a spot in the national semifinals. For the next three years, Steele served as the team's captain and president.

"An activity like mock trial is one of the only ways to find out if you actually like the law," she says. "It's gamified, but if you're reading through the case and having fun learning objections and the rules of evidence — even though it's not easy — I think that's a sign that the challenges are ones you will thrive in. Mock trial helped me transform a vague ambition into a genuine love of law."

Her ambition and focus began to take shape in her very first semester, in an introduction to political science class taught by Micah Rasmussen, the director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½, where Steele is a fellow.

"With only seven or eight other students, we would deeply discuss a variety of issues for entire class sessions," Steele says. "I was still uncertain what I wanted to do. I didn't know what the implications of being a lawyer would be, but I found those discussions extremely valuable and Professor Rasmussen has been instrumental in helping me. Political science became the lens through which I view the world."

Volunteer experience also helped shape her ambition. Since May 2025, Steele has volunteered as a municipal mediator for New Jersey courts after having received certification in mediation and conciliation. In that role, she conducts confidential mediation and conciliation sessions to help those involved in legal disputes reach a mutually acceptable resolution.

"It sounds intimidating, especially for a college student," she says, "but the court set me up perfectly well to perform that direct service to those in need."

After living through a grueling year of the law school application process, Steele now feels a certain amount of calm settling in for her final couple of months at Rider.

"It's been go-go-go, and I feel like I can settle down now for a little bit," she says. "But I want to end my time here on a high note. I don't want to coast. I want to feel proud of every single moment I have at Rider. Like so many other first-generation college students, I recognize that the opportunity to pursue an undergraduate degree is a privilege."