Nice job by local FBA chapter

 Check out this awesome program to teach high school students advocacy and other legal and life skills.  Judges Beth Bloom and Robin Rosenberg are helping to run the program, which looks like a lot of fun:

In the flagship program, Civil Discourse and Difficult Decisions, realistic scenarios bring forward issues related to the coronavirus, including social media memes used to start ambiguous rumors, and a car parade of 16-year-olds protesting for the right to vote.

The program, which is facilitated by judges and members of local Federal Bar Association (FBA) chapters, has reached students in federal courtrooms across the country. As it enters its fourth year, the live program with judges and lawyers is available online to high school and college teachers who want to offer it to their students. 

“The need for civil discourse skills doesn’t diminish when day-to-day life is disrupted,” said U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom, of Miami, who launched the fall series with a virtual program from her closed courtroom on July 31. “In fact, now more than ever, students need exposure to the ways that civil discourse is the foundation for effectively resolving disputes in the legal system and in their lives.” Bloom and U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg, of West Palm Beach, with the assistance of FBA chapters in the Southern District of Florida, pioneered the courtroom program in 2017.

For the coming academic year, they have modified it as a 90-minute distance-learning module. South Florida teachers can request a judge and attorney team(link sends e-mail) for a class in the 2020-2021 term. Interested teachers in other parts of the country should make requests at aogrp_outreach@ao.uscourts.gov(link sends e-mail). 

“Over the past three years, working with federal judges on this initiative has been a rewarding experience in our chapter and in our school communities,” said Stephanie Turk, the South Florida Chapter’s civics liaison and an associate at Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson. In the July distance-learning pilot, coordinated by Bloom and South Florida Chapter President Alaina Fotiu-Wojtowicz, a partner at Brodsky Fotiu-Wojtowicz, students learned and practiced several life-impacting skills.