WEBVTT

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Uh, my name is John Barton.

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I teach introduction to law here
at Abraham Lincoln High School.

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Uh,

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it's part of the law program
that we have at Abraham Lincoln.

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It's the first class that 9th
grade students take when they come

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into the law program.

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It's an introductory course that
provides them with background

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about criminal law, civil law,
family law, constitutional law,

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so then they can use that
background for classes.

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That they will take later on in
their high school careers at

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Lincoln. In addition to teaching
the introduction of law class,

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I'm also involved with the moot
court and mock trial programs,

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those run after school.

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They're available not only to
students in the law program,

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but also to any other student at
Lincoln who's interested in

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learning about how the legal
system works.

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Really a great program. We work
with a law firm in Manhattan.

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Work with the lawyers to learn
how to make arguments to courts.

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A moot court is similar to a
Supreme Court argument,

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so students stand up and argue
before actual judges and actual

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courtrooms in Brooklyn and try
and convince a judge and

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competing against other high
schools why they should win a

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particular case that's given to
them. They read actual cases.

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It's an amazing experience and
stuff that people really do when

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they're in law.

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School and here we have students
who are doing it as early as

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9th grade.

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A mock trial program is another
competition that we have where

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we have a model case and
students represent one side of the case

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and arguing against another high
school, and they are lawyers,

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they are witnesses, and they
work together,

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make opening arguments, closing
statements.

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It's again another wonderful
program.

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We have students who graduate
from this program. Honestly,

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the lawyers who we work with say
they are performing at a level

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that's equal to what they see at
some of the students who are in

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law school.

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Students who do it for sometimes
4 years really become well

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trained in the skills that are
necessary to become lawyers.

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If that's something that they're
interested in.

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My name is Domain Wayam, and now
I attend Cornell University.

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I am also an alumni from Abraham
Lincoln High School class of

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2024. Sophomore year we came
back in person and I was in

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constitutional law,

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and there we pretty much did a
more hands on learning experience

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using the Constitution.

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So we learned about different
issues that were involved in

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society that were impacting our
lives currently and then how

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that traced back to historical
purposes. So for example, Matt v.

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Ohio and how the reason why our
Miranda rights are being read to

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us and also with that hands on
learning experience we also

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engaged in debate and those
really helped me.

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Develop my public speaking
skills,

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which also led to me
participating in the mock trial and MOOC

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court clubs here that really
helped public speaking which led to

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me participating in my mock
trial and MOOCor um competitions as

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well as being in an elected
position in student government,

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specifically the secretary and
vice president.

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So with the constitutional law
class I was able to develop

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public speaking.

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That really helped me be
versatile in my daily life.

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So in high school I was very
like timid person.

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I don't really speak much. I
wasn't that much of a vocal person,

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but being in the law program and
participating in these law

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related clubs and activities um
really forced me outside of my

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comfort zone because I knew I
wanted to be a lawyer and It was

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going to be difficult for me to
kind of break out of my shell

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and start speaking so by doing
these clubs and classes it really

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forced me to come out of my
comfort zone and speak in a sense

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where I'm addressing like a room
full of people and being able

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to present a case because I knew
eventually that that was

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something I really wanted to do
with my life so it was just a.

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Really great place for me to
start and now in my college life

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it's really helped me be vocal
on campus whether I'm like trying

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to start a club or just being
vocal in the clubs that I'm

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currently in, specifically the
black pre-law Society I joined.

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I've been very vocal about just
visiting different law firms and

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law schools throughout the
country. Teachers, um.

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In this school and throughout
this school throughout my four

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years have been very impactful
and just allowing me to pursue my

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dreams after high school,
specifically Ms. Gone,

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who's the coordinator of student
activities and the advisor to

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student government, and Mr.
Fanning,

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who is the assistant principal
of social studies and also the

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teacher of constitutional law.

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They were very influential in
allowing me to embrace the high

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school experience and you know.

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Really pushed me outside of my
comfort zone to be the person

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that I am today. My name is Mr.
Green.

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I am the senior level Syracuse
University Project advance

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instructor for I teach public
policy and personal finance to our

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seniors.

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Syracuse University Project
Advanced is a dual enrollment

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program that gives students the
ability to earn college credit

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and a high school credit while
taking classes at Abraham Lincoln

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High School. Through programs,

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these programs that we have at
Abraham Lincoln,

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our students can earn up to 30
college credits that give them

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the ability to do advanced work
and their classwork fulfills the

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requirements of the coursework
for the university.

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So there are no big AP tests at
the end of the year that

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students have to worry about
passing.

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The cumulative class work during
the year gives them the ability

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to earn those.

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And at Abraham Lincoln students
can earn up to 30 college

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credits through these programs.

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So our students that take the
SUA classes have an advantage

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because they are starting,

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they are potentially starting
their college careers with 30

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credits, so they're already more
advanced than that.

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The um the skills that the kids
learn in these classes are

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research skills and debate
skills and you know respecting each

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other.

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And listening to each other and
that really gives them a leg up

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when they're moving on because
they will have to work

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collaboratively in college with
their classmates,

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so they are prepared to be more
successful when they leave

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Lincoln. I'm Melanie Campbell
and I'm a junior.

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My name is Lea Buckle and I'm a
senior. In the law program,

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we start from learning the
basics to getting into more advanced

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um territories. Uh,
specifically,

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we start in freshman year with
an intro to law class with Mr.

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Burton, who's a retired lawyer,

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and then in sophomore year we go
to constitutional law with Mr.

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Fanning.

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Um, my favorite thing was the
debates that we had in the

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constitutional law class.

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It basically had me like in
competition with my peers and able

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to build up for an actual
debate. Uh, to add on to, I agree.

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I like how we're being
challenged and being taught ideas that we

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didn't think of before,

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and I also specifically like how
we have a competition that we

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have with the MOOC court
competition and mock trial competitions

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after school, where we get to go
to actual courtrooms,

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we get to talk to actual lawyers
and aspiring lawyers as well

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that teach us. Different things
and we get challenged.

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I think that I can easily apply
what I've learned in this school

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outside into like my law
practices in the future because mock

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trial,

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MOOC court and in class we are
constantly put in competition,

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researching cop like topics,

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cases and just a bunch of
different things that prepare us for

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the real life situations of
lawyers. Um,

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I think the law program teaches
us specific skills that we can

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use outside of here, for
example, eloquently speaking,

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speaking clearly, how to build
good arguments,

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how to talk in a public space.

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First off, the competition
starts in the fall semester.

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for MOOC court and then in the
spring semester for mock trial.

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For MOOC court, we already have
an argument built up,

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so the trial has already
happened and we're basing our arguments

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based off of the trial and we
create these arguments at a deeper

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level,

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we add our own information and
we also refer to cases that

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already happened in real life
and after this we compete in

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Fordham Law School in which
aspiring lawyers judge us and we get,

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we get to actually apply our
skills in real life.

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For mock trial, we are doing a
trial, so there are witnesses,

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there are there are attorneys,

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and in this we get to ask direct
questions, cross-examinations,

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we do objections and it feels
like we're actually lawyers and

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Putting our skills that we
learned from the law program to real

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life.

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I enjoy it because it's a new
experience in which we get to go

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to actual courtrooms, we get to
speak with actual judges,

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prosecutors as well,

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and we get to actually see how
it would be like in real life if

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we were to follow the our career
path of law.