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| Instructor Carolyn Porter (seated at left) is shown here with her business law class students who participated in mock trials on Dec. 7. Pictured with Porter are, seated from left: Katie Farris of Franklin, Holly Phillips of Tuckaseegee, Cheyanne Bradley of Sylva and Destini Blalock of Clyde. Back row: Caleb Sullivan of Sylva, Wioletta Koniecko Sikorska of Sylva, Faye Dooley of Sylva, Ryan Lee of Cullowhee, Edward Rich of Franklin and Blake Ramey of Waynesville. |
For about 90 minutes one chilly December morning, Carolyn Porter’s classroom morphed into a courtroom on the third floor of Southwestern Community College’s Burrell Building.
Porter donned a judge’s robe and pounded a gavel on her desk.
Students decked out in their Sunday best addressed classmates as “ladies and gentlemen of the jury” and did their best to advance the interests of their “clients.”
It was mock trial day in Porter’s business law class, an opportunity for students to put into practice the legal principles they’d spent a semester learning about.
“For some of these students, public speaking is actually quite scary,” said Porter, coordinator of SCC’s Business Administration program. “I was proud of them for overcoming their anxiety and doing such a great job. One of the many benefits of SCC’s small class sizes is that we can do these kinds of interactive projects with our students.”
Both lawsuits brought before the students’ court were breach-of-contract cases. One was a construction case; the other was regarding a computer system purchase.
“I thought that the mock trials project was one of the best experiences I had the privilege to be a part of,” said Edward Rich, a student in the class.
Added Faye Dooley: “The exercise helped me understand how laws apply to a case in the real world. It was fun.”
Southwestern, which has been ranked among the Top 10 community colleges in the nation three times in the past decade, serves Jackson, Macon, Swain Counties and the Qualla Boundary.
For more information about SCC and the programs it offers, visit www.southwesterncc.edu or call 828.339.4000.
