A group of sophomore students gather around an unfurled white mat, dusting for shoe prints as part of an assignment for their forensics law class at American Senior High School. Forensic Law, along with Street Law, Constitutional Law, and Mock Trial are the specialized classes offered by American’s Law Academy.
This year marks the academy’s first time participating in Project Citizen, a program co-sponsored by the Center for Civic Education which is designed to promote responsible participation in local and state government. Students, under the direction of lead Law Academy teacher, Richard Browning, began brainstorming for competition ideas in early October when they came across a potential local issue – sidewalks, or lack thereof.
The students are trying to get sidewalks added along N.W. 57 Avenue from 183 Street to 173 Drive.
“We wanted to focus on something important, but also something that had a chance of competition within the community,” said Browning. “The students threw back and forth some ideas before settling on the sidewalks. They thought it was kind of crazy that with the hectic traffic people were walking to get to multiple businesses in the area. This is completely a student-driven project.”
After researching the students found evidence of pedestrian-related accidents in the area which solidified the resolve to move forward with the project idea. So far the students have found overwhelming support from the community while researching with over 600 citizen surveys, and have begun working with a slew of local businesses that will be sending letters to appropriate forums within the local and state government for change.
Browning’s students are expecting a visit from Miami-Dade Commissioner Barbara Jordan and a representative from the state’s Department of Transportation on January 27 to talk about the steps necessary to complete this project. They encourage and welcome any support from individuals and businesses in the community that will continue to propel the project forward.
“It’s important for students to participate in events like Mock Trial and Project Citizen. It shows young kids how to become much more informed citizens and how to navigate the government bureaucracy,” said Browning. “It takes people to make change and now these students are given a chance to learn first hand how to change the community.”
In addition to the various district, region, state and nation-wide law competitions are held throughout the school year, such as Mock Trial competitions and Project Citizen, the Law Academy schedules field trips to the Miami-Dade County Courthouse and frequently have visits from special guest speakers like police officers, DEA agents and lawyers.
The academy first began eight years ago as part of a Small Learning Communities grant installed to create opportunity for students to dabble in their interests and broaden their scopes of skill before diving headlong into college degrees.
Browning teaches freshmen, sophomores, and juniors within the Law Academy along with Anthony Perno who teaches seniors taking Mock Trial. Browning feels the Law Academy offers an advantage both for students interested in pursuing law and those who might not have ever taken up the subject in college.
“I think the Law Academy is great for the teachers, for the school and for the students especially because these are the classes the kids choose to be in, so this is something they want to learn. Whenever you have kids that are interested in the subject it makes the class far more fun.”
The program also offers internship placement opportunities for those who wish to work with law firms, many of which have taken on students as full time employees following graduation.
The Law Academy at American is not a Magnet program, so only those within the school’s boundaries that attend the school are able to participate. For additional information on the Law Academy or American Senior High School, contact the school at 305-557-3770.