Judicial Youth Corps participants were honored at a graduation ceremony at the John Adams Courthouse in Boston. Top: SJC Chief Justice Roderick L. Ireland (ret.) welcomes the graduates. Bottom left: Worcester JYC Coordinator James Rosseel. Bottom right: MBA President-elect Robert W. Harnais.
Photos by Jason Scally.
The 2015 Supreme Judicial Court Judicial Youth Corps program
drew to a close on Aug. 13, when 41 high school students from
Boston, Worcester and Springfield took part in JYC Appreciation Day
at the John Adams Courthouse in Boston.
The JYC program gives urban high school students an opportunity
to experience the judicial system and learn about the law through
educational sessions and hands-on internships in the courts from
May through July each year. The SJC first established the summer
program in Boston in 1991. The Massachusetts Bar Association has
partnered with the SJC since 2007 to expand the program to
Worcester. For the second year in a row, the MBA also partnered
with Western New England University School of Law to bring the JYC
program to Springfield.
Following a group lunch and a mock trial program, the students
joined family, friends and mentors for the graduation ceremony.
Retired SJC Chief Justice Roderick L. Ireland, who has been a part
of the JYC program since its inception, welcomed the students and
served as master of ceremonies for the graduation program.
JYC graduates introduced themselves from the audience and
thanked their mentors, many of whom were on hand for the ceremony.
A handful of students representing each of the three programs also
took to the podium to share more detailed memories about their
internship experiences. (See below for some additional feedback
from the Worcester students.)
MBA President-elect Robert W. Harnais relayed the MBA's proud
support of this worthwhile program. Speaking to the students
directly, he said they were fortunate to get hands-on courtroom
experience through their JYC internships. Harnais recalled how his
own similar, although less formalized, early exposure to the courts
as a "courtroom groupie" and volunteer helped shape his desire to
become a lawyer.
Harnais thanked the students' families and volunteers for their
support, especially those involved in the MBA-affiliated programs,
such as James Rosseel, the Worcester teacher and attorney who has
run the Worcester program for the past nine years, and Sam Charon,
the assistant director and pro bono coordinator at Western New
England University School of Law, who again served as the
attorney-coach of the Springfield program. He also recognized the
program's sponsors, including the Massachusetts Bar Foundation, the
primary sponsor of the Worcester program, and MBF President Robert
J. Ambrogi, who followed Harnais as speaker and shared his own
congratulatory sentiments.
Student reflections from the Judicial Youth
Corps*
The things I liked the most during my internship were
…
- "Helping the scared people get some kind of comfort when they
came back from court while I handed them a copy of their
restraining/no harassment order."
"Watching all the activity in a courtroom when it was in session …
and watching an actual trial."
- "Taking a tour of the other courts - it was cool to see how the
different courts functioned."
- "A defense attorney's cross-examination - he kept asking
questions that the witness did not know the answers to."
- "I really enjoyed observing an armed robber case and the
closing arguments of the attorneys."
Some of the more interesting things I recall from my
internship are …
- "Mediations with one mediation specialist are very calming;
mediations with another mediation specialist are very energetic. It
is interesting to see their different styles."
- "We witnessed people asking for a change of counsel. We had
never seen this happen before but we saw so many in the past
week."
- "Watching a woman walk into the Clerk's Office with a man and
then calling out: 'I have a restraining order against this
man!'"
- "People watching … something different every day."
Some of the funniest things that I witnessed during my
internship are …
- "A man came to the counter and he was wearing a bathing
suit."
- One fella's comment: "It's all fun and games until you go to
D.O.R."
- "We encountered people who would ask the workers to speed up
their divorce case because their partner was driving 'em
crazy."