Ms. Dizon and Ms. Ruiz took Becton’s law students to visit the Bergen County Courthouse on May 5. Students had the opportunity to see how law is used in everyday life as they spent the day learning about the different aspects of law and court systems.

“I hope the students were able to see that law is very much relevant to life,” Ms. Dizon said.

The day began when the students were led to the interior dome of the rotunda area of the courthouse where the students learned about the construction of the structure. 

From there, they entered the courtroom of Judge Melchionne, former Becton graduate and husband of Mrs. Melchionne. He spoke to the students about the process of becoming a lawyer and his experience of being the presiding judge of family court. “The students were very interested in what he had to say and asked great questions,” said Ms. Dizon.

After this, the group then entered a criminal court where sentencing hearings were taking place, and they were able to observe about five different cases.

The last stop was a visit to the old jail, a historic building that was decommissioned as an active jail in 1993. The students were a little spooked but learned a lot about what life was like in the jail for inmates including well known ones like the “Iceman” and Frank Sinatra.

“Overall, it was a great experience, and I definitely plan on continuing for future criminal justice and law students,” Ms. Dizon stated.