Law Students Talk U.S. Constitution at Lincoln Middle Schools

A Nebraska Law School had its students teach eighth graders in Lincoln about the Constitution Friday as part of “Constitution Day” celebrations.

Students at the University of Nebraska College of Law talked about the U.S. Constitution to six middle schools in Lincoln today, September 17, after the annual event was cancelled due to COVID-19 last year.

Kirsten Huddleston’s 8th grade social studies class at Culler Middle School learned about the Constitution from Nebraska law students, and she said it’s important for students to hear about the constitution from other young people.

“I think it’s always exciting, when we have...young people coming in,” she said. “Who are in college, so our students get the opportunity to see what it’s like to be in college, and what these folks look like, and what they talk like, and what they sound like, and that they’re pretty regular people, but have a lot of information for our students.”

More than 40 College of Law students participated as a part of the Community Legal Education Project.

Addie Scheider was one of the law students who spoke at Culler Middle School and said she hopes the 8th graders understand the connections between the Constitution and today’s political debates.

“Those issues actually play into these foundational documents that govern our nation that were, you know, written 200 years ago,” she said. “I think that that’s kind of a huge key that I would want them to be able to recognize, that these old documents have a huge impact on the things that they’re constantly hearing about. All day, every day, in the news.”

The goal of the lessons was to spark young people’s interest in law.

Law students explained the Articles of Confederation and how that set the course for the Constitution.

Also, Nebraska College of Law students lead a constitution lesson for fifth graders in the spring.