Eleven students from the Law II class took a full day trip Wednesday, May 1 to different agencies in the justice system and also donated blankets to Court Appointed Special Advocates(CASA). This gave the class the opportunity to see firsthand how homicides are investigated, prosecuted, and then how inmates are held for both pretrial and post conviction sentencing.

“I really [enjoyed] being able to provide this type of opportunity to those students who are considering careers in the field of criminal justice,” Law teacher Paige Ridge said. “By providing the opportunity for my high school students to see firsthand these careers in action some realized they might really enjoy a certain career and others that certain careers were not right for them.”

The Law I and II classes gathered 74 new fleece blankets and delivered them to CASA while on the field trip. CASA donates these blankets to children who are removed from their homes typically due to abuse or neglect to help provide comfort to them during the foster home process.

“I wanted to find a way our students could help others in our community,” Ridge said. “We reached out to different agencies and CASA was in need of blankets to give to the children who need their services.”

The agencies the class visited included; the Smith County Courthouse, Smith County Jail, CASA, Southeast Texas Forensic Center, and the Smith County Justice of the Peace Precinct Five.

“We sat in on a misdemeanor docket in the Smith County Court,” Ridge said. “We took a tour of the entire [Smith County Jail] seeing how detention officers perform their duties in the differing housing placements and levels of offender security needs.”

The class also visited with the Justice of the Peace Jon Johnson in his courtroom, and he explained to the students the type of cases he hears as Justice of the Peace on the trip. Ridge plans to continue with trips like this over the following years with the law classes.

“I loved having this opportunity to learn how certain law enforcement agencies really operated,” junior John Nilson said. “[Which I prefer] rather than having someone from the agencies come into class and tell us about the best parts of their job, which is what we have done previously.”