On Friday, September 16, the first ever students’ constitutional rights panel was held at Academic Magnet. The entire event was organized by senior Grace Ford-Dirks (just for fun)! The panelists included: David Aylor, a criminal lawyer, Sean Kittrell, assistant US attorney on the violent crime task force, and Susan Dunn, legal director for the South Carolina ACLU. Grace opened up the discussion with a question about how the average’s person lack of knowledge of first amendment rights could impact our society, followed by some talk about the issue of free speech in reference to the CCSD dress code. The next forty-five minutes involved a heated discussion about searches and seizures of phones on school property. Both the panelists and students expressed their opinions on privacy rights when it comes to students’ belongings on campus.

The panel was attended by  students in both sessions, offered 3B and 4B on that Friday. Three members of the Talon shared their thoughts about the event. Grace Beischel said that she thought Grace did a great job at organizing the whole thing and learned things she hadn’t known before about her rights at Academic Magnet and within the Charleston County School District. Katie Conley shared that she enjoyed how the topics were relevant to our age group. On the other hand, Campbell Daffin expressed that she wished the students had ask some better questions instead of just “how not to get in trouble”.

Hopefully Magnet can expect to see many more panels like this one in the future!