Reagan High School Contact: Coleen Tsakopulos Young Criminal Justice Instructor Reagan High School 20730 Huebner Road San Antonio TX 78258 E-mail: tsakopulos@satx.rr.com Law Day Conference 2001 Activity Summary: The 1st Annual Ronald Reagan High School Law Day Conference was held on Saturday, May 5, 2001 in conjunction with the American Bar Association’s Law Day. Approximately 100 students from San Antonio and El Paso high schools spent the day attending 11 different breakout sessions on topics ranging from domestic violence to search and seizure and visiting with 10 different recruiters from universities and local and federal law enforcement agencies. The opening session speaker was San Antonio Police Chief Al Phillippus, who was given the Liberty Bell Award. Activity Narrative: Participants selected 3 sessions from 11 sessions offered. The sessions offered were Shaken Baby Syndrome, Date Rape, Domestic Violence, DWI/DUI, Juvenile Probation, Self Defense Tactics, Drug Awareness, Conflict Resolution, Search and Seizure, Mock Trials, and Fingerprinting/Evidence Collection. Each session lasted one hour and thirty minutes. During the lunch break, participants were served a spaghetti and meatballs lunch and had time to visit with recruiters from universities and federal and local law enforcement agencies. Each participant received an official conference T-shirt and a folder with their name on it. The folders included a map of the classroom, a conference pen and pencil, a nametag, a donor flier, an evaluation sheet, a customized schedule for the day, and a beautiful certificate of participation. They also had chances to win door prizes during each session and during the closing session. All of the recruiters, donors, and guest speakers also received gifts and certificates of appreciation. Our conference promoted awareness of the rule of law through sessions such as DWI, mock trials, search and seizure, and juvenile probation and highlighted the theme of protecting the best interest of our children by offering session in self defense, date rape, domestic violence, and shaken baby syndrome. We reached many different high schools in San Antonio and El Paso, Texas, which are cities approximately 8 hours apart. This is the first conference of its kind in this area and we received many compliments from participants, speakers, and recruiters on the organization and implementation of the conference. One criminal justice instructor from a participating high school commented that she could not think of one detail that we left undone. From registration until the closing session, everything was provided. We were especially proud of the number of businesses that helped make the conference a reality. Besides the businesses listed as sponsors, we also had approximately 5 other businesses that contributed money at a lower monetary level than the chief contributors. Everyone has said they will participate again and already are asking for the date of next year’s conference. We believe the impact of this conference will be far reaching because of the nature of the sessions. Most of the participants are interested in careers in criminal justice. By affording them the opportunity to meet with recruiters from various universities and federal and local law enforcement agencies, the participants were able to set their futures in motion. Sample Programs Home | By Audience | By Location | By Sponsoring Organization