Abbey Park High School hosted the annual Youth in Law and Justice evening on Nov. 14, 2019. Parents/guardians, community members and industry leaders joined students and staff for a night of networking and important discussion about law and careers.
Now in its seventh year, this event provides students with the opportunity to chat and network with community members and leaders in the legal field and gain a better understanding of what they might want to do after high school.
This year, attendees heard from keynote speaker Kent Roach, professor in law and public policy at the University of Toronto.
The Youth in Law and Justice event is planned by an executive team of students and staff at the school who arrange everything from ordering the dinner to marketing the event. Students in this group participate in mock trials during the school year and through this activity, are introduced to local lawyers who are invited to attend the Youth in Law and Justice evening and help facilitate discussion about law.
“I hope through this event people realize that law and justice is more of an approachable topic and something that my generation can go into and be inspired to make a change in the world,” says Eun Seo Choi, Grade 12 student and member of the Youth in Law and Justice executive team at Abbey Park HS.
Many who attend the law and justice event have been coming for several years and are impressed at how the event continues to grow.
Olga Karmanova, who graduated from Abbey Park HS last year, was the 2018 President of the Legal Eagles law club in her final year at the school. Now in her first year at university, Olga made sure she was able to return to her alma mater to attend this year’s Youth in Law and Justice event because of the networking opportunities and interesting discussion.
“Students have an idea of what being a lawyer is like, and at this event you get to see what people in different professions do and that there are many options” to pursue as a career, says Olga.
