Ever wonder what it’s like to sit in a courthouse and witness a real case unfold before a judge?

Salisbury Middle School eighth grade Social Science Teacher Matt Tobias recently took his students to the courthouse to see firsthand what they learned in their civics class this year.

Tobias told The Press “The field trip was organized after having Judge Zac Cohen come talk as a career speaker earlier in the year. Students in eighth grade learn about the Constitution, 27 amendments and the judicial system. This trip allowed students to learn about the court system firsthand. They learned about arraignments, pretrials, civil versus criminal trials and what each person’s role is in a courtroom.”

According to Dana Thompson, one of Tobias’ students, “It was like an inside scoop of really seeing how a courthouse works and how all of the roles of the courthouse members really work together to put these cases together.

“My class only saw one case. It was about a guy who was doing drugs while driving and he got a 15-month sentence in county jail,” Thompson said.

Did those civics classes referred to by Tobias come in handy for Thompson? She believes so.

“I think what we learned in civics really ties in with it because we learned about government. I think that it’s really interesting. It’s a really interesting topic to learn about. Going to the courthouse was really fun. I really enjoyed it and it was really interesting.”