JOURDANTON, Texas – It has all of the trappings of a full-fledged trial: prosecutors, defense attorneys, a judge, a bailiff and witnesses. But all of the participants are Jourdanton High School students.
They are members of the school’s “law team” a program that began as a pilot project established by Jourdanton High School teacher Patrica Drummer.
“I thought that a class like that could maybe spark something in a child that they didn’t know that they had,” Drummer said. “And I was right.”
With help from professionals like Mike Gilbert, of the Jourdanton Police Department, the Atascosa County district attorney and several area lawyers, Drummer’s dream became a reality.
The class now has a waiting list of students eager to be a member of the law team.
“Ever since I was a little kid I’d always wanted to bring justice to people who need it,” said sophomore Mac Ramos, who has hopes of one day becoming a lawyer.
Bailey Jones, a junior, said, “It’s intense and exciting.”
“You get to think on the spot sort of thing,” she added.
Drummer said that her objective is to make the law team relevant.
“What good is teaching them in a classroom if they cannot leave me that day and utilize what I taught them in the real world,” she said.
This weekend, the students will participate in their first competition, sponsored by the Texas State Bar Association, at the Bexar County Courthouse.
I’m not going to say that we will come out the top winners,” Drummer said. “But I am going to say that we’re going to leave a footprint.”