Press Release  Supreme Judicial Court Judicial Youth Corps Program Participants Celebrate Graduation

BOSTON, MA — Twenty-two Boston high school students who participated in this year’s Supreme Judicial Court Judicial Youth Corps (JYC) program celebrated the completion of their comprehensive court internships with a graduation ceremony at the John Adams Courthouse today.

Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Kimberly S. Budd presided over the JYC Appreciation Day graduation ceremony as Mistress of Ceremonies. Gerald Howland, Esq., Educational Director of the Boston Judicial Youth Corps, and two JYC participants also spoke at this year's ceremony. JYC participants, their families, and court staff were in attendance.

Prior to the graduation ceremony, the students participated in a mock trial with the Nelson Fellows at the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse before presiding Judge Angel Kelley of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

The Judicial Youth Corps (JYC) Program is an intensive summer internship that educates high school students about the Massachusetts court system and the rule of law. For over 30 years, students have been taught and mentored by judges, lawyers, clerks, probation officers, and other court personnel who volunteer their time in educational sessions or as supervisors. The program, run out of the Supreme Judicial Court Public Information Office, offers summer sessions for high school students in Boston, Worcester, and Springfield. This year, in addition to the Boston program, the Judicial Youth Corps had ten students participating in Worcester, and five in Springfield.

Throughout the summer, students participated in mock trials, field trips, group discussions, and worked in court departments. On Wednesday, August 14, Boston JYC students joined the Suffolk County District Attorney's Criminal Justice Fellows for a mock trial with Boston Municipal Court Judge Erika Reis presiding.

The Judicial Youth Corps was created in 1991 by then-Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Paul J. Liacos. Hon. Roderick L. Ireland, Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court from 2010 - 2014, was actively involved in the program, beginning when he was a Boston Juvenile Court judge. The goal of the program was to bring together a diverse group of students to spend their summer learning about the court system. That led to the creation of the Judicial Youth Corps program, a paid internship with a rigorous application and interview process and over 500 graduates. Graduates have gone on to work in various professions as prosecutors and defense attorneys, in private legal practice, and at least two have been appointed as judges. Funding for the Boston JYC program is provided by the City of Boston's Youth Fund and the Boston Private Industry Council.

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