Public service and leadership from Massachusetts to D.C.
Mount Holyoke College senior Amelia Anderson ’26 is ready for a career in public service or civil rights law, thanks to the strong support and leadership lessons she has received as a student.
As a spring admission, Amelia Anderson ’26 bonded with her cohort before arriving on campus.
Although it felt strange to begin college a semester later than most students, “we got to campus and already knew each other,” Anderson said. “My best friends to this day are from that group, and it’s a valuable support network that helped me feel at home so quickly.”
Anderson, who grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, knew she wanted to experience a different environment for college and had her eye on New England especially. She enjoys representing Texas out of state. “I like to talk about how growing up in Texas and coming to Mount Holyoke gives you a different perspective,” Anderson said. “I’m proud to be from Texas.”
Anderson has plans to move again after graduation, this time to Washington, D.C., where she spent fall semester 2025 as part of the MHC Semester in D.C. program. During her semester there, Anderson took classes at American University and interned at the Eisenhower Institute, where she conducted archival research and handled logistics for events and student programs.
“I met the [Eisenhower Institute’s] expert-in-residence and granddaughter of President Eisenhower, Susan Eisenhower, several times,” Anderson said. “During the government shutdown, Senator Mark Kelly [of Arizona] gave us a tour of the Capitol Building. It was the most incredible thing that’s ever happened to me. I fell in love with the city and made excellent connections while I was there. I want to work in Congress for a few years and then go to law school.”
Anderson’s time in Washington, D.C., at the Eisenhower Institute was made possible by her experience as a student leadership fellow at the College’s Weissman Center for Leadership.
“The Weissman Center is all about cultivating leaders on campus and preparing students to lead after they graduate,” Anderson said. “Student leadership fellows assist with events like our annual Work Wear Drive, networking trips to New York and Washington, D.C., and [host] panels and discussions. Last year, we started a new campus zine called the L.A.P.S. Lowdown that breaks down the week’s news in a digestible format. We always make sure to include good news.”
Looking to the future, Anderson wants to practice public interest or civil rights law. She spent last summer as a legal intern for the Zadeh Firm in Fort Worth, Texas, where she conducted research to help prepare cases and support clients and drafted motions, briefs and case summaries.
“I wasn’t just making coffee,” Anderson said. “I got to know the lawyers and paralegals very well and went to court and took notes at depositions. It was terrifying at first because I didn’t feel qualified, but the attorneys reassured me that my work was good. The attorney I worked most closely with, Elan Cabrero, was so generous with his time and knowledge. I will be the first person in my family to pursue law school, and his mentorship has been invaluable in preparing me for the future.”
Anderson has also benefited from her participation on the College’s mock trial team, where she serves as the social media manager, and in the College’s Pre-Law Association. “I made incredible friends through [the] mock trial [team], some of whom have graduated and work in the legal field,” Anderson said. “It taught me a lot about public speaking and being confident in yourself and your work.”
Thanks to her U.S. Elections course with Associate Professor of Politics Adam Hilton, Anderson discovered the power of statistics. “I thought I wasn’t a math person, but with the way the class connected statistics with my interests, I fell in love with it,” Anderson said. “I learned the programming languages R and Python. I became [Hilton’s] teaching assistant for Politics Research Methods and got to share my passion for statistics with students [who were] as apprehensive as I had been.”
As a legislative intern for Massachusetts State Senator Jo Comerford, Anderson helped with policy research in areas including nuclear nonproliferation, Indigenous rights, watershed management and municipal building regulations. Anderson worked closely with Comerford’s district director and Mount Holyoke alum Elena Cohen ’10, and the internship helped inform her interest in politics and the United States Congress.
“I was working right before the start of the legislative session,” Anderson said. “It was cool to help build the foundation for the new session. Similar to my experience with the law firm, it was impactful to be given that amount of responsibility for work that other people would see and read.”
