There is no doubt in Emma Bean's mind: She wants to be a lawyer — a public defender, to be specific.

"I can remember being little and reading stories in the newspaper about different court cases or people who had been accused of different crimes and how the trials were unfolding," the Colorado Springs, Colo., native said. "Then when I was a freshman in high school I joined my school's mock trial team. That was it. There was nothing else I think I could do with my life."