A Metea Valley High School social studies teacher was one of 60 educators in the United States selected for the 2024 Supreme Court Summer Institute for Teachers.
“The highlight was that Friday when we got to hear Supreme Court decisions. There were four cases that we got to hear,” said Susan Fuhrer, a social studies teacher at Metea Valley High School.
What is the Supreme Court Summer Institute for Teachers?
The annual development event, hosted by Street Law Inc. and the Supreme Court Historical Society, was held at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington D.C.
“So really the purpose is for social studies, law, [and] government teachers to learn more about the inner workings of the court,” said Fuhrer.
Educators were split into two sessions, with Fuhrer attending the second, from June 20 through June 25.
The teachers got an in-depth analysis of the Supreme Court, and court language. They also took part in a mock court deliberation, where they were split into two groups to look at both sides of an argument and then discuss.
“We did one moot court where we were actually using the law room in Georgetown Law, which is kind of like the model for the law students and for other advocates and I got to be a justice, so that was kind of fun,” said Fuhrer.
Fuhrer sees the Supreme Court
The experience allowed Fuhrer to live out one of her high school dreams of attending a Supreme Court session, where she heard justice opinions on the United States v. Rahimi case.
“Very select people are actually able to get in. It’s really hard to get tickets, you can say, and we were able to hear the actual Supreme Court justices issue opinions. So it was a little starstruck, I guess you could say, teaching about the justices for so long in my class to actually see them up close,” said Fuhrer.
She also built relationships with teachers from other states, spoke with law clerks, and met experts like Judge Robert Dow, the Counselor for Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts.
Bringing the experience back to her students
Her experiences will help shape a new class coming to Indian Prairie School District 204 high schools.
“In District 204 the following year, we’re going to add a law elective. So that was one of the reasons why I applied, because I really wanted to try to learn a little bit more about the law and how to bring that back to my students,” said Fuhrer.
And along the way, Fuhrer hopes to use what she learned to help foster the next generation of legal professionals.
“I can kind of bring that back to my students and also try to encourage some of my students that want to be attorneys, so I’m just excited,” said Fuhrer.
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