Seniors use Smarties to Learn

“The Smarties Trial is a thing that Wolf does every year in places of a test for our rights section in government,” Senior Trent Miller said.

The trial provides an alternative way to learn the curriculum.

“We are learning about the rights of the accused, amendments that go along with it, and the process of thinking about and using those, and that’s what they’re learning about,” Mrs. Woolf said.

The process the class goes through is somewhat complicated.

“She (Mrs. Woolf) declares that smarties are the equivalent of cocaine, and that a neighboring state has made them legal. What happens is that the smarties start flooding into our class where they are now illegal,” Miller said.

Students get assigned roles including criminals, police officers, reporters and attorneys. Each student must fulfill the role throughout the assignment.

“The officers learn how difficult it is to get probable cause and a warrant to go through that process,” Mrs. Woolf said.

It is a new experience for all the students, and not not an easy one.

“The lawyers aren’t trained, they’re just going with the best knowledge they have to perform in a trial, but they do really well,” Mrs. Woolf said.

The trial helps students know what happens outside of a high school.

“It teaches you a lot about how a court room works, and what your rights are as far as getting arrested, because you actually get to use your rights when the cops come in to arrest a criminal,” Miller said.

Real lawyers instruct and teach the students how things would go in an actual trial.

“We have Rigby, Andrus & Rigby law firm, they come in and send lawyers to help be the judges so it is a learning experience not just a trial,” Mrs. Woolf said.

The Smarties Trial is meant to be a learning experience for the students.

“Having lawyers in the courtroom explaining how things work really helps,” Senior Devin Baxter said.

Along with those in the trial other students in the school are summoned to be on the jury.

“One of the things that is important about it is jury duty, that’s where most of us will, at some point in our life play a role in a courtroom not the other positions,” Mrs. Woolf said.

For some Seniors, the trial helps to make the classes more enjoyable.

“Everyone thinks that government is going to be a boring class, but the smarties trials help make it fun,” Miller said.