The 8th grade class took a field trip Tuesday to the Atlantic County Courthouse in Mays Landing to dig deeper into their knowledge of the inner workings of America’s judicial system. Middle School social studies teacher Sara Coates arranged the field trip as part of the students’ civics curriculum. The students met Judge Mark Sandson and sat in on a session in drug court, where he reviewed and rendered judgments on some 30 cases involving individuals of a wide variety of ages and socio-economic levels. Judge Sandson spoke with the students before court began and took questions from them after the session ended. He explained the details of the court-monitored drug rehabilitation program and gave an overview of the county-level judicial system. The following day, the students spent time in civics class discussing their reactions to being in a courtroom for the first time. “It was an eye-opening and very impactful experience for them and they’re very excited about doing another field trip to a criminal courtroom where sentencing is done,” Mrs. Coates said.