PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT
John Adams Courthouse
One Pemberton Square
Boston, Massachusetts 02108
CONTACT:
Jennifer Donahue/Erika Gully-Santiago
PublicInfo@sjc.state.ma.us
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 13, 2025
Supreme Judicial Court Boston Judicial Youth Corps Program Participants Celebrate Graduation
BOSTON, MA – Twenty-two high school students who participated in the Boston Judicial Youth Corps (JYC) program this summer graduated from the comprehensive court internship today in a celebration at the John Adams Courthouse in Boston.
The Supreme Judicial Court Judicial Youth Corps Program is an intensive six-week summer internship that educates high school students about the Massachusetts court system and the rule of law. The program, run out of the Supreme Judicial Court Public Information Office, offers summer sessions for high school students in Boston, Worcester, and Springfield. This year, in addition to the twenty-two JYC participants in Boston, there were ten in Worcester, and six in Springfield.
Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Kimberly S. Budd presided as the Mistress of Ceremonies for the JYC Appreciation Day graduation ceremony. Gerald Howland, Esq., Educational Director of the Boston Judicial Youth Corps, and Boston JYC graduates Vivian Dang and Isabella Campbell, both students at Boston Latin Academy, also spoke at this year's event.
JYC participants, their families, and court staff were in attendance for the celebration.
Throughout the summer, Boston JYC students worked in Boston courts, participated in mock trials, went on field trips, and joined in group discussions with judges and court staff.
Earlier in the day, First Justice Jonathan Tynes, of the Boston Municipal Court - Dorchester Division, presided over a mock trial between the Suffolk County District Attorney's Criminal Justice Fellows and Boston JYC students. On Thursday, the Boston JYC students will join the Nelson Fellows for a mock trial at the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse before presiding Judge Angel Kelley of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
For more than 30 years, JYC graduates have been taught and mentored by judges, lawyers, clerks, probation officers, and other court personnel who volunteer their time in educational sessions or as supervisors.
The Judicial Youth Corps was created in 1991 by then-Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Paul J. Liacos. Hon. Roderick L. Ireland, Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court from 2010 to 2014, was actively involved in the program, starting when he was a Boston Juvenile Court judge. The goal of the program was to bring together a diverse group of students to spend their summer learning about the court system. That led to the creation of the Judicial Youth Corps program, a paid internship with a rigorous application and interview process and over 500 graduates. Graduates have gone on to work in various professions as prosecutors and defense attorneys, in private legal practice, and at least two have been appointed as judges. Funding for the Boston JYC program is provided by the City of Boston's Youth Fund and the Boston Private Industry Council.
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