While Class Action has been in schools across the country for six years, Minneapolis is the first district to recruit lawyers and law students to help implement it. Class Action is a role play-based program in which students enact six civil cases that explore the consequences of underage drinking. The cases involve drinking and driving, fetal alcohol syndrome, drinking and violence, date rape, drinking and vandalism, and school alcohol policies.

Students form legal teams and are guided on how to prepare the case for the "jury" (the remainder of the class not involved in the role play). Audiotapes provide the facts of each case, and important information about alcohol and the effects of alcohol abuse is woven into the materials. In an innovative way, students learn the art of critical thinking and discover how their actions could have long-term, often dire effects on so many others as well as themselves. The program culminates with a mock trial in which evidence is presented, witnesses are heard, and a verdict is obtained.

The University of Minnesota researchers who developed Class Action consulted with many legal experts to ensure that the cases were true-to-life and adaptable in any state. The curriculum also has enough flexibility to allow for such things as guest speakers, interviews with real-life experts, or--in the case of Minneapolis--voluntary participation from the legal community. Minneapolis Public Schools is the largest and one of the most diverse school districts in Minnesota. Its 38,000 students speak 90 languages and dialects, 73 percent are students of color, and 68 percent are below the poverty level, making the Minneapolis experience all the more challenging.

Through a stroke of good luck, the project peaked the interest of Marta Chou, a Minneapolis attorney who serves as chairperson of the Minnesota Bar Association's Committee on Diversity. Chou enlisted the help of colleagues, and the ground-breaking partnership that resulted between teachers, students, law students, attorneys and judges played a huge role in the overall success of Class Action.

"For many students, this was their first positive experience with the law," said Chou. "Although the primary goal is for students to become more conscious about making good decisions, a side benefit is that they see attorneys and law students--some only 10 years older than they are--who work hard to protect them. They might think, 'I could do that too,' and go on to become investigators, paralegals, lawyers or judges."

Jan Braaten, the Minneapolis Public Schools' health education coordinator who spearheaded the Class Action effort in Minneapolis, added a creative touch to the experience. "We have a huge population of English-language learners from all over the world, so I tried to make this curriculum come to life for our kids," she said. "I put together a kit with gavels, judges' robes, police shirts and badges, legal charts, legal pads, and pencils--even American flags for behind the judges. The kids loved it, and it gave me goose bumps to see Hmong lawyers and Somali judges."

The 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health estimates there are almost 11 million underage drinkers in the United States, and more than 5,000 deaths of people under age 21 are linked to underage drinking every year. Programs such as Class Action can help reverse this alarming trend. Class Action has been shown to help delay the onset of alcohol use, reduce use among youth and teens who have already tried alcohol, and limit the number of alcohol-related problems experienced by young drinkers. Because of these impressive outcomes, Class Action was designated as a "model program" by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

When you invite students to be "a part of the learning instead of just listening," as one student put it, amazing things can happen. "It taught me the job of being a lawyer and it taught me to be smart with alcohol and drugs," said one Class Action student. "I think we did an excellent job."

For more information on Class Action, please contact Marty Harding at mharding@hazelden.org or visit www.hazelden.org/projectnorthland.

--Published August 20, 2007