Students get hands-on learning about county government

Students at Medford Area Senior High School got first hand knowledge of how county government operates through a cross-discipline project between the school’s government class and English classes.

On Tuesday, sophomores met with county department heads as well as some county board members to learn about how county government functions. According to government teacher Corey Nazer, one of the organizers of the program, this year they took a slightly different approach. While in the past they had focused on specific county-related issues, this year he explained they are taking a more holistic approach.

In classes prior to the project, the students learned about separation of powers and the checks and balances on the national and state level. He said this project gives them a chance to see how that works on a local level with the various duties between the courts, the department staff and the county board. “We are going with a much more holistic approach this year,” Nazer said, explaining that they wanted to give an overview about how the county works and then the students prepare reports on specific topics after seeing it as an whole.

The project is done cooperatively between the school’s government classes and the English department with the final projects for both classes.

Prior to Tuesday’s visit with county officials, students were given an opportunity during their spring break to attend court last week for extra credit. Nazer said more than 20 students took advantage of that and observed court for a day.

At Tuesday’s session, the students moved between different stations to ask questions of the county representatives. In their English classes they had received instruction on interviewing to prepare them for the visits.

In coming weeks, students will be traveling to the courthouse for a tour and to see county government working in action.