Vermont Supreme Court Makes History at WUHS

A cavalcade of police cars lined the back rows of the Woodstock Union Middle and High School Thursday, as the Justices of the Vermont Supreme Court argued cases inside.

On October 12th, the Vermont Supreme Court conducted a day of court sessions at WUHS, providing students with an opportunity to experience how cases are argued in the highest sector of the Vermont court system.

Along with arguing the court cases, Justices: Paul Reiber, Karen Carroll, Harold Eaton, Beth Robinson, and Marilyn Skoglund participated in a question-answer session for students, sharing their advice about what it is like to be a Justice and their individual journeys into law.

“Any career path that you take, you are going to be touched by the law,” said Justice Eaton to the room full of students.

Woodstock was the first public high school in Vermont that the Supreme Court visited, making it an even more exciting day for students.

“I’m glad to have this [Woodstock] be the first school that we came to,” said Justice Harold Eaton, a graduate of Woodstock High School himself.

To complete their day at WUHS, the Justices and other various members of the court sat down for lunch with a group of interested students to talk about what they do and how they felt about the unique day in the court.

“It was very interesting to get to see the other sides of the judges”, said WUHS senior, Camie Rediker, “Normally you just see their decisions and hear them speaking in legal terms, but it was nice to be able to talk to them as people.”

Not only did the members of the court partake in casual lunchroom discussion, they also educated students about the court system and process.

“Learning more about why the cases ended up in front of the Supreme Court made the in-session part of the day a lot more interesting,” commented WUHS senior, Ella MacMaster on what she learned through talking with the Justices.

The Supreme Court presented WUHS with a group photo that will be hung in the school to commemorate the inaugural visit. The court plans to head to Proctor High School as its next stop on its high school visit agenda to share their expertise in the law with more students.