As part of Respect for Law Week, the Merrill Noon Optimist Club held its seventh Law Fair at Prairie River Middle School Friday. Held every third year, the Law Fair brings representatives of all aspects of the law to directly interact with middle school students.
The first Law Fair in 2000 won an Optimist International award for civic programs.
Students first heard a short kickoff speech from Merrill’s own Honorable J. Sheehan Donaghue, whose career covered all three branches of government. Donaghue’s career included conducting lead poisoning testing on children in New York City, serving in the Wisconsin Legislature for 12 years and serving on the cabinet of former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson.
She encouraged students to “dial down the rhetoric” and engage in respectful political discussions.
“We need to focus on civility in our relationships with each other,” she said. “It is important for us to listen and discern what is most important to us. Also remember that not everyone has the answers to everything.”
After Donaghue’s address, students then moved across the hall to the field house to interact with a wide variety of exhibitors involved in the field of law. Students received a questionnaire and needed to ask the exhibitors to get all the right answers.
PRMS principal Ryan Martinovici noted that the Law Fair offers an opportunity for students to learn about jobs in the law enforcement and the legal system that they may be interested in pursuing as careers.
U.S. Marshal Dallas Neville has been coming to the PRMS Law Fair since its inception. He has enjoyed meeting the students and talking about the jobs that U.S. Marshals do.
“When kids meet a U.S. Marshal, they don’t necessarily know what that really means,” he said.
He attends similar events at colleges and high schools, but this is the only one he is aware of that is held at a middle school.
“Most kids that get into law enforcement just want to be helpful and do good,” he said. “This is a great time for them to start thinking about it now.”
Along with Prairie River Middle School students, sixth through eighth grade students from Merrill’s parochial schools are also invited to attend. The total number of students who experienced the Law Fair is estimated at 650.