Students from Middle School 145 in the South Bronx outlawyered kids from a fancy upper East Side private school to win the ninth annual Thurgood Marshall Junior Mock Trial competition. “We worked hard and it paid off,” said 14-year-old Carissma Hughes, a lawyer on her eighth-grade legal team. “At first I was nervous, but in the middle of the trial I enjoyed the rush. Now, I realize I want to become a defense attorney.”
The mock trial, held last week at the Bronx County court building, was based on two men boarding a subway and robbing a man. Real-life Bronx Assistant District Attorneys Jon Westland and Jaci Flug volunteered to coach the Bronx students. Edwin Carbajal, 14, who served as a prosecutor, said when it was his turn to speak to the jury during closing arguments, he looked them right in the eye as he spoke. Continue article here…
The Arturo Toscanini Complex played host recently to an international dignitary. The First Minister of Scotland, Jack McConnell, who was visiting the United States to celebrate Tartan Day, also paid a special visit to the library of MS145 in order to interact with a group of youth to learn how the arts could be used to promote positive youth development in his native Scotland. The funny thing is, he also talked with some students from Scotland at the same time. How was this possible? Through a video-conference, leveraging the power of our poetry slam equipment to reach across an ocean and shake hands with Europe. Students from all three of our complex schools, MS145, MS325 and MS328 all performed for audiences in both the Bronx and in Scotland. Click the link to view the original article on the