DePaul law students, staff and faculty worked with sixth-grade students from Chicago Public Schools' A.N. Pritzker Elementary School for the final 2013-2014 Donate-A-Day on April 4. Organized by the Pro Bono & Community Service Initiative (PBCSI) and student group Phi Alpha Delta, the service day offered Pritzker students a chance to learn about the law school environment, see a mock trial and study a cyberbulling case.
Law students Jim Boland and Michelle Cass help Pritzker students work through questions in a cyberbullying case.On arrival, 13 law student volunteers greeted the sixth-graders and offered a tour of the College of Law. The students met with Dean of Admissions & Student Administration Michael Burns and Professor Zoe Robinson to learn more about the law school environment and to hear their reasons for attending law school. The students also had the opportunity to participate as judges and jury members during a demonstration by the Phi Alpha Delta mock trial team.
The sixth-graders continued to learn about the court system by analyzing a cyberbullying case, Weber v. Chase, which is part of the Constitutional Rights Foundation’s Lawyers in the Classroom curriculum. During the lesson, law student volunteers facilitated discussion questions, helping students understand various legal terms and concepts being used in the case.
“Pritzker students are very enthusiastic about the law. They love to volunteer and demonstrate their knowledge," said law student volunteer Desalina Williams, who helped facilitate the cyberbullying lesson. "This is my second year working with the students and I am always impressed at how well they grasp the various fact patterns presented to them. This is a great group of students.”
PBCSI has worked with Pritzker Elementary on several service projects over that past few years, including school beautification and organization, supply drives for homeless students and law students volunteering as tutors.