The criminal justice classes create an opportunity for students interested in going into law, and soon a courtroom will be added to the campus for mock trials. The students will get a taste of a real court hearing.

“I was supposed to get the courthouse in November,” criminal justice teacher Scarlett May said. “They were supposed to start [building] in May but that has not happened.”

The courtroom will provide a crucial learning experience and will become May’s new classroom full time. The gallery of the courtroom will be regular tables and chairs, and the room will be an enclosed space upstairs across from the upper LGI in between the computer labs. May said it will be one to three years before it’s completely finished.

“I’m still a practicing attorney so I can envision in my head like ‘this is what I used to do’ and how it’s set up,” said May. “If you’ve never been there, there’s so many little rules that you need to understand.”

Being in an environment that will help students learn and understand a concept is important for being able to visualize and understand what’s going on. The courtroom is being built to help future attorneys and anyone looking to work in the criminal justice system. May is hopeful that her students will be able to take more away and be able to see and understand what’s going on with a better environment for mock trials.

“I hope they see what I try to teach in all my classes, just the real-world application,” May said. “A lot of what you’re doing, how you act on the street, this is eventually where it ends up in court.”