- April 29, 2025
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Braden River Middle School students had the opportunity April 7-9 to trade classroom coursework for a real world civics experience as they traveled to Tallahassee.
From hearing the echoes of legislators' voices inside the State Capitol to sitting in the seats of senators, their lessons were vivid.
Jacqueline Llamas and Michele McClellan teach civics at Braden River Middle School. The seventh and eighth grade students learn about the three branches of government, how the government works, and basics about county, state, and federal government.
But Llamas and McClellan wanted to take their lessons outside the classroom.
So the roadtrip was planned to Tallahassee with stops at the 22-story State Capitol to visit the House of Representatives, the Senate and the Historic Capitol and Knott Building. They also visited the Florida Supreme Court.
They also visited Big Bend Farm, Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory, and Wakulla Springs.
Forty-four students made the trip along with three faculty members and three parent chaperones.
After arriving at the Capitol, one of their first lessons was about the Florida Supreme Court.
In February, they learned about the Gideon v. Wainwright in their class "Landmark Supreme Court Cases." The visit helped bring the discussion to life.
Clarence Earl Gideon was accused of breaking and entering into a Florida pool hall. He was denied a lawyer and represented himself. The case established that everyone has the right to an attorney, even when they cannot afford one.
“Obviously in class, it was important, but it was just an assignment,” seventh grader Simona Mazzucco said. “Now that we were there, we saw this whole process just to see 'Oh you're guilty, or you're not guilty.'”
In the Senate, the students proposed their own bills.
They proposed and did a mock session for two bills. One involved the use of electric bikes on roads and the other was having Chick Fil A as a lunch option. Neither passed.
“It was fun, because you got to see everybody else's perspective on things, and vote for things,” seventh grader Mikenna Yermak said. “There were these buttons that said 'yes' or 'no.'”
Mazzucco talked about the ceiling's design that projected voices so there was no need for a microphone.
“I think going there and seeing their chairs and seeing their desks makes them more like regular people instead of just a senator or a Supreme Court justice,” Llamas said. “It puts it more into perspective for the kids, the students and for me.”
They visited the former Capitol building.
“It has real hardwood floors, freaky and echoing,” Llamas said.
The Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory gave the students the opportunity to see and touch all sorts of marine life. Yermak said there were horseshoe crabs, sea turtles, manatees, stingrays, starfish, sea horses, and a bunch of different crabs. They went to a pier to catch crabs to bring back to the lab.
The students also got to see animals in the wild at Wakulla Springs.
The Big Bend Farm is part of the Tallahassee Museum. Visitors go there to experience what life was like in the 1800s.
