中文
HOME
HOME / LATEST NEWS / Content

Social Sciences Department: Extension of Interest through Extracurricular Activities

June 13, 2022

The Stories of Our Youth

The very first Stories of Our Youth Personal Growth sharing event concluded on June 2nd. The Stories of Our Youth is a project on personal growth, a space everyone can confide in and a platform to listen to inspiring joyous, heartbreaking, vulnerable, and strong stories. With the platform, the sensitive, deep yet significant sides of us are brought to light, for discovery and companionship for others, reinforcing the Stories of Our Youth’s mission —— to find friends and appreciate ourselves on the journey of growing up. The event used honest and simple stories to explore the true values behind literature and humanities that can go beyond the constraint of age. Seeking unprecedented strength in vulnerabilities and emotions, many of them have grown and changed a lot more and a lot more impressively than they had originally thought. Now, they can learn more about different lifestyles through others’ inspiring life stories and experiences by listening and appreciating. In the event, the audience traveled with the speakers from inner vulnerability, to seeking strength, from childhood stories to the world of civilization, finally returning to themselves, returning to their identities. Undoubtedly, the Stories of Our Youth event brought comfort and delight to students and adults. Even though the stories were personal to speakers, attendees could find a piece of themselves in the stories —— whether due to a similar experience or due to sparks of realization —— providing a mental gateway into the complex ideas behind each story, literature, and film shared.

Mock Trial Club Activity

In the evening on June 10, 2022, the Social Sciences Department and SHSID Moot Court Club brought online a wonderful mock trial to the high school students.

Mock trial is a student event with global reach, an equivalent of the moot court activity in a college setting. It aims to exercise advocacy through the in-depth understanding and application of the court trial process and the evidence rules, motivate students to learn the basic legal principles in the fields of criminal law and civil law, and also motivate students to deeply understand the importance of procedural justice in legal reality.

This showcase event was adapted from the classic legal film My Cousin Vinny (Lynn, 1992). The prosecution and defense had a fierce confrontation from their respective positions around a shooting case that took place in a supermarket. The students portrayed the lawyers, witnesses, criminal suspects, and judges. Their full preparation helped them to step into the shoes of each role, seeing each side's position and characteristics. The role of the jury was given to the audience at large. By capturing the loopholes in the evidence, the lawyers fully interacted with the witnesses and judges in direct and cross examination. The solemnity of a court trial was also reflected through students' court etiquette and professional terminology, and the carefully arranged defense strategy and objection battles over the admissibility of certain evidence allowed everyone to feel what a real court room fight is like. After the closing arguments of both sides, the factual question of guilt was handed over to the audience/jurors at the scene. Due to the excellent performances of the lawyers and witnesses on both sides, the voting results were very close, and until the last moment, the side with the guilty verdict won by a small margin.

The High School Social Sciences Department is committed to providing students with a rich and diverse social science learning experience at SHSID. This event gave the club members an opportunity to demonstrate and practice. And mock trial as a student activity was also introduced to more high school students. It conveyed the message that even high schoolers can organize and participate in a court trial in a highly effective manner and become a world citizen with legal knowledge, advocacy skills, and a strong sense of justice.

(Written/Pictures by Social Sciences Department Reviewed by Qian Zuo)