“Some days this phrase felt aspirational,” Melanie said of the inscription in the federal courthouse lobby in St. Paul. “Other days, watching the people inside these walls, it felt earned.”
Melanie Cabrero ’27 spent her Professional Experience summer as a judicial extern for U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell ’84 and left certain of the career she wants.
Melanie Cabrero ’27 started her summer unsure of almost everything.
“Coming into this summer, my life felt unsteady,” she said. “I was unsure of what was next for me, so I walked in with little to no expectations, and imposter syndrome consumed me during my first few days in the office.”
The office was the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota in St. Paul, where she was a judicial extern for Judge Jerry Blackwell ’84. Melanie is studying political science and psychology at Carolina.
Her first sentencing changed things. The defendant had little formal education, and he shared about struggling to read and write and about never finishing high school. He received a lengthy prison sentence.
She found herself in tears, “not because of the sentence itself, but because he was one of many people failed by their circumstances” long before they reached the courtroom.
“I can’t claim to know the solution, only that the goal is justice, and that justice looks different for everyone; the pursuit of it belongs not just to the victim, but to the families, the defendant, and the community,” she said.
Melanie drafted orders on issues ranging from immigration to rezoning efforts and researched how federal statutes applied to the cases she worked on. She also observed hearings and helped mentor high schoolers through a mock trial.
“Each piece of the work gave me a fuller picture of how a courtroom actually functions, beyond what I’d studied in the classroom,” she said.
Seeing the people in the system
The summer didn’t change her mind about the system, but it changed how she saw the people in it. She still sees the criminal legal system as “a system in dire need of reform.”
“What did shift was how I saw the people working within it, particularly the compassion that judges and prosecutors extended to defendants even while carrying out their charges,” Melanie said.
She came into the externship with some negative perceptions of law enforcement roles, and she said she’s leaving with “a fuller, more complicated picture of what prosecution actually looks like.”
The summer also helped her grow in self-assurance.
“I knew going in that this summer would be significant, but I didn’t expect to walk away with this much confidence in myself and in the path I’ve chosen,” Melanie said. “I found not just a deeper love for the career I want to pursue, but for myself, and rediscovered the spark behind my passions.”
She walked in unsure of what came next. She walked out sure of at least one thing.
“I’m going to be an attorney; there’s no doubt in my mind about that anymore,” Melanie said. “This summer reminded me that I still have some life to live and people to learn from before I step into the field, which is part of what’s pushing me to explore what justice looks like beyond U.S. borders after graduation.”
