Attorneys teach kids about constitution

Bethany Lange
Posted 4/3/17

Lawyers take time to share important law lessons with school children.

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Attorneys teach kids about constitution

Posted

EVANSTON — Several local attorneys took time out of their day on Friday, March 17, to teach Uinta County fifth graders about the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. and Wyoming governmental systems.

County and prosecuting attorney Loretta Howieson, who visited Aspen Elementary, said she has participated for six or seven years and enjoys the opportunity to work with the kids on Liberty Day.
“It’s always interesting to find out what they know and understand and the things they’re interested in,” she said.
Liberty Day Institute, in partnership with the Equal Justice Wyoming Foundation, sends schools resources about the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. The booklet given to each student includes the full Constitution of the United States, the Amendments, the Declaration of Independence, a list of some important dates from 1787-1791 and several questions and answers about the Founding documents and governing officials.
This year’s questions focused on the qualifications to be a governing official (such as a congressman, senator or president) and the rights guaranteed by the Amendments. Several classes figured out — or learned — how many senators and representatives Wyoming has in Congress and in the Senate, since the two Houses of the legislature were designed to give different types of power to the differently populated states. Since Wyoming is the smallest state, it has only one Congressional representative (this term’s representative is Liz Cheney) while it has two senators (Mike Enzi and John Barasso) because every state has two senators.

Teachers also had a chance to work on the material with their students before the attorneys were invited in.
Howieson commented that most classes know some phrases and the first 10 Amendments (or the Bill of Rights), but some classes have also expanded on that knowledge. This year, Garry Piiparinen’s class at Aspen Elementary had memorized the entire Preamble of the Constitution.
Howieson said she tries to talk about the meaning of the documents, and she particularly focuses on the Constitution itself apart from the Amendments because people often seem to think of the First or Second Amendments as defining the Constitution or even the entire Bill of Rights.
“They were having a lot of discussion ... about the process of making laws and the balance related to the executive and legislature,” Howieson said. “I think it’s reflective of having a new president that maybe is a nontraditional idea and some things that are happening ...”
In the class, she spent some time talking about the separation of powers between the executive, legislative and judicial branches, focusing particularly on the responsibilities and power of the judiciary in balancing out the other two branches.
She said there was some conversation about the fourth, fifth and sixth Amendments, which deal with criminal justice.
Howieson also said she discovered that this year’s classes under Piiparinen also knew about all five branches of the military.
Some other attorneys spread throughout the schools as well. Included among them were Mark Harris and Amanda Kirby at North Elementary. Each of the participating attorneys throughout the county’s elementary schools brought a different perspective and focus to the presentation, although it was still centered around the Founding Documents.