On May 5, in celebration of Rhode Island Law Day, Cranston High School East and West students were able to learn about careers in the legal field, including attorneys, judges, and law enforcement officers. This year’s theme, according to the Rhode Island Bar Association, was “Cornerstones of Democracy: Civics, Civility, and Collaboration.”

The Bar Association focuses on this topic as an attempt to rebuild trust in the state’s institutions, respect for one another, and to demonstrate its willingness to collaborate to address the challenges facing our nation.

Judge Steven A. Minicucci led the event for students in all grades at Cranston High School West, coordinated by social studies teacher Donna Carpenter, who is herself an attorney. Minicucci is the Associate Judge at the Rhode Island Workers’ Compensation Court and a Cranston High School West parent of senior Victoria Minicucci.

RI Workers’ Compensation Court Judicial Clerk and recent Roger Williams University Law graduate Maddy McGunagle joined the session to speak about her experience in the field outside of courts. Kristen Sloan Maccini of Sloan Maccini Law was present to discuss her experience with probate and mediation matters.

Finally, Cranston High School West’s School Resource Officer Robert Arruda shared his experience in law enforcement and his role inside the school.

“I’ve come to Cranston West many times over the years because I had three children that attended this school,” Minicucci said. He also explained that he visits the school yearly for the YES Rhode Island program, which stands for Youth Employment Safety. During that program, students who have entered or are entering the workforce learn rights and laws concerning workplace safety.

“This program,” Minicucci said about the Law Day program, “is particularly meaningful for the high school students because we are trying to talk to them about different careers available to them in the legal community.”

“The law is the oil that makes the car that is this country go. Without the law, you have nothing. “You have chaos,” Minicucci shared with students at the top of the program.

Minicucci extolled the virtues of the United States Constitution, and how well its words have held up to create and maintain order in this country up to this point.

“It happens to be probably the best document ever written,” he shared, “because I don’t know of a document that I could have written that for the next 250 years, an entire society – a country of 50 states – would be able to run its entire world based upon.”

The discussion approached the topic of civics and civility, reminding students of their roles as citizens. Minicucci made a point to mention that citizens too often take matters into their own hands during a dispute, disallowing the legal system to work for them as intended.

“Disputes need to get fast into the legal system, into the courtroom, which is where they can be decided fairly,” he said.

When Kristen Sloan Maccini took the floor, she provided education on civics, civility, and the rights and duties of Americans, then segued into encouraging students, upon adulthood, to become active members of society.

“You need to obey the laws – you need to respect and obey them. And you need to respect the rights, opinions, and beliefs of other people and participate in your local community,” she said.

Maddy McGunagle talked a bit about the work that she does behind the scenes for judges, and Sloan Maccini talked about the types of cases she works on as a mediator, including probate, guardianship, and mediation.

The group took questions at the end of the program, and interested students were urged to reach out to their teacher, Mrs. Carpenter, to learn more about the legal field.