Justice Teaching Center for Civic Learning

What were you doing on the weekend when you were in middle school? Take a look at these middle school students! From start to finish, what an inspiring day with middle school students from the panhandle to Miami at the Hillsborough County Courthouse learning about the courts and the legal process. Judge Christopher Nash, attorney Justin Fahringer, and local trial lawyers, prelaw students, and former high school mock trial students gathered to celebrate Law Week and the finals of the state middle school mock trial competition.

Congratulations to American Heritage for their first place championship honors! The King's Academy in Palm Beach County placed second place, and Mater Lakes Academy in Miami placed third. We celebrated the accomplishments of middle school students as they practiced their persuasive arguments, critical thinking, and legal reasoning skills. They are starting early!

Lots of visitors on campus today learning about the Constitution, Florida Southern, and pre-law!

Lake Howell HS from Seminole County placed second overall in the State HS Mock Trial Competition! Congrats to Amos Privette and his extraordinary team! Eighteen teams participated in the state finals representing Florida's 20 judicial circuits. Awards were presented to the top five teams as well as professionalism awards and best attorney and best witness awards. Booker HS in the 12th judicial circuit placed third. American Heritage Delray from the 15th circuit placed fourth and Mater Lakes Academy from the 11th circuit placed fifth.

Students from Patel High School in Tampa presented their constitutional knowledge recently serving as expert witnesses in a simulated congressional hearing. Students interacted with judges, political scientists, attorneys, and educators throughout the program. Their preparation was evident as they explored a range of constitutional issues providing research, reasoning, and application skills in response to historical and contemporary questions from the judging panels. Congratulations to all of the students and their teacher advisor, Brett Swan.

Fun morning meeting families, friends, and prospective students to discuss pre-law opportunities at Florida Southern. Thanks to our work study student Isabel Lopez for sharing her experience and engaging with our visitors on an early Saturday morning. We even had a high school mock trial visitor drop by along with Mocsie!

Constitution Week across Florida was great fun! Thank you to our wonderful volunteers for sharing your knowledge with students of all ages!

Florida champions Fort Lauderdale High School placed Third in the National High School Mock Trial Tournament this weekend in Phoenix! Congratulations to this stellar team and coaches Dan Katz and Jennito Simon for their outstanding representation of Florida both in and out of the courtroom!

Thank you and congratulations Solana, Sunny, Liv, James, Mel, Abby, and all of our graduating seniors that have shared their time and talents working with our Center while attending Florida Southern. I am eternally grateful.

"One day you'll look back on this and realize how hard it was and how well you did." Congratulations to all students, teachers, and attorney coaches that participated across Florida in the High School Mock Trial Competition. This year we saw teams from the panhandle to the Keys. Several attorney coaches that participated in the program this year had previously participated as high school students in the Florida competition and were now returning to share their expertise as coaches.

Two coaches were recognized by the state program for their dedication and commitment to their students. Students nominated their teachers and coaches for the Ed Lange Legal Professionalism and Service Award. Named in honor of teacher Ed Lange, one of the first teachers to participate in the Florida High School Mock Trial Program in 1991, the award this year honored teacher Paula Mercer from Key West High School and attorney coach Amber Rumancik from Fletcher High School in Duval County.

Presiding judges included county and circuit court judges from the Ninth and Eighteenth Circuits as well as a Florida Supreme Court Justice. Judge Steve Jewett recruited all presiding judges from the competition including judges from the Ninth and Eighteenth Circuits. Attorney Juan Camacho from the Orange County Bar Law Week Committee spearheaded the recruitment of attorneys for the program which required 160 volunteers. He also coordinated Continuing Legal Education credits for the participating attorneys. "This program requires a village of volunteers," stated Annette Boyd Pitts, creator of the program in 1991. "It has become a labor of love for everyone that participates," she noted. Thank you to Judge Steve Jewett and all of our presiding judges, as well as our attorney volunteers, and our team that worked tirelessly throughout the year to make this program a success. This team included Judge Steve Jewett, Steve Renick, Juan Camacho, Kim Renick, Sebastian Aviles, Melanie Hernandez, Solana Millik, Fernando Yzquierdo, and all if the circuit coordinators, voluntary bar associations, and school districts that contributed their time and expertise throughout the year in planning and organizing the event.

More photos to follow.

Fort Lauderdale High School won the state high school mock trial championship last night after competing in five rounds of competition in the Orange County Courthouse in Orlando over a three-day period. The final round included Boone High School in Orlando. Boone placed second in the state finals followed by Lakeland Christian School in Polk County.

A total of 18 schools participated in the state-level academic competition.The winning team will represent Florida in the National High School Mock Trial Championship, Inc. to be held in Arizona in May. Congratulations to all teams that participated this year! We are grateful for the support of the Ninth Circuit judges as well as the 150 volunteer attorneys and law students that participated this year. Judge Steve Jewett serves as Chair of the Mock Trial Advisory Committee and coordinates the involvement of all circuit and county court judges to preside over the competition.