In the WCHS Advanced Placement English class this week, a “jury” of Dr. Heather Powell’s students participated in a mock trial experience in which they listened to the opening statement of the attorney for the plaintiff in the case highlighted in the nonfiction text, A Civil Action, by Jonathan Harr. The text details the Woburn, Massachusetts’ legal case of illness and death due to groundwater contamination by industrial chemicals. Playing the part of Judge Skinner was Principal Scott Chafin. The attorney was played by State Court Judge of Worth County, Ralph Powell. Powell did an excellent job of setting forth the facts of the case for the students with maps and diagrams of the contaminated wells, the locations of the corporations, and the neighborhoods of the families who suffered. After the mock opening statement, Powell led a question/answer session focusing on details from the case and students’ college and career plans.
