Deer Park High Students Enjoy First Amendment Presentation

Constitutional law students from Deer Park High School attended the “Icons of First Amendment Freedom Speak Out Live!” event at Stony Brook University on Oct. 9, presented in partnership with the Law, Youth and Citizenship Program of the New York State Bar Association and the Touro Law Center’s Project PATCH.

Featured live speakers known for their landmark Supreme Court cases included Mary Beth Tinker and John Tinker, lead plaintiffs in Tinker v. Des Moines, and Cathy Kuhlmeier Frey, lead plaintiff in Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier. Students were able to hear first-person accounts of each speaker’s experiences related to these landmark decisions as well as enjoy discussions on the current impact of these decisions on students’ rights by a panel of experts in the fields of law, journalism and First Amendment advocacy including Jay Worona, counsel for the New York State School Boards Association.

“This unique event provided our students with the opportunity to experience living history and explore First Amendment freedom at a young age,” said FACS and social studies curriculum associate Heather Stewart.

Photo by Deer Park Schools: (From left) Deer Park High School student Timothy Vierling, John Tinker, Deer Park High School student Christopher Volpe, Mary Beth Tinker and social studies educator Vanessa Whitney at the “Icons of First Amendment Freedom Speak Out Live!” event at Stony Brook University.