Canadian County Bar Association Contact: Mark W. Osby Canadian County Bar Assoc., 501 W. Main, Yukon, OK 73099 Life Skills Seminar Activity Summary: The Canadian County Bar Association conducted life skills seminars for Law Day. Life skills seminars exposed high school seniors to the laws that might affect them in their everyday activities. The seminars are designed to last a little over an hour and are done at area high schools. Activity Narrative: Starting on April 30, and continuing each Friday thereafter, until May 16th, Life Skill Seminars were conducted at four different school systems located within Canadian County. The high-school seniors were gathered in an auditorium or class room and divided up into four groups. Each of the four groups were then exposed to four different areas of the law by the Canadian County Bar Association attorney. That segment lasted for fifteen to twenty minutes, after which the attorneys would then switch and talk to the next group, so that each attorney would speak for 15 minutes four times. The high school seniors were also given a legal guide which was provided by the State Bar. Not only is the Life Skills Seminar enjoyable for the attorneys it is also very beneficial to the students, and also promotes Law Day in an exciting way. The main purpose of the Life Skills Seminar, which is identical to the Law Day Goal, is to expand the high school students' awareness of the rule of law. The purpose of the seminar is to inform the student of his rights and responsibilities on becoming an adult. From marriage and divorce to D.U.I. and leases, this is a very effective way to expand the public's awareness of the rule of law, since most of the high school seniors have been shielded or protected by an adult or guardian. Upon reaching the age of majority, they are presented with new rights and responsibilities and are not allowed to hide behind the shield of their parents. The Life Skills Seminar was a very appropriate activity for Law Day especially in conjunction with this year's theme of celebrating your freedom. What could be a better way to celebrate one's freedom than to explain the nature of their rights to those who just have acquired the right to vote in federal, state and local elections, who are now free of parental control, who can marry without their parents' permission, and who can enter into a wider variety of enforceable contracts. The Life Skills Seminars are conducted and treated much like a CLE class insofar as publicity is concerned. No active measure was made to invite the media to cover the event, although this easily could be done. However, without media coverage the extent of outreach to the community and the public is not limited. Not only are the students reached and advised of the laws, but hopefully interested parents will ask how their child's day went, or will receive or look at copy of the handbook provided to the students. One of the major benefits of the Life Skills Seminars is the extent that it forms a partnership with the local high schools. In fact, this year half of the high schools that we performed a Life Skills Seminar in had asked in advance that we provide the law seminar to them as we have in the past. The Life Skills Seminars are a quality presentation and are very effective due to the nature of the attorneys that are speaking. Each seminar was introduced by District Judge Cunningham or Associate District Judge Gary Miller. In additional, the speakers speaking on the areas of the law are highly successful. For example, for criminal law, we were able to have the District Attorney Cathy Stocker speak at half of our seminars. This year alone our program for the Life Skills Seminars began on April 30th, and ended May 16th. Also as stated before, the Life Skills Seminar has been integrated into half of the schools' ongoing law-related education activities. The Life Skills Seminar is a program that is provided free of charge to the high schools students. There is no budget, and costs nothing except for the lost billing time or income of the attorneys who voluntarily decide to participate. Life Skills Seminars were done at the four major high schools in our County, with the goal next year to reach any other school or home schooled individuals who may be interested. Through the use of the life skills program, program, the County Bar Association was able to reach approximately 800 high school seniors. Sample Programs Home | By Audience | By Location | By Sponsoring Organization