Expanding my legal knowledge: Alexander’s summer at OJEN

I am an incoming grade 12 student at Bayview Glen Independent School, and I started working at OJEN through the cooperative education program offered by my school. For the past four weeks, I have been doing a joint placement with OJEN and the Ontario Court of Justice alongside Justice Javed. This placement has truly been an experience to remember, and I absolutely adored every single minute of it. As an aspiring lawyer, I was still on edge about wanting to do law in the future as I have never really gotten to experience the legal world. However, this placement has reaffirmed my aspirations as I have enjoyed working in the field of law so much in the past month. 

While working at OJEN, I was able to learn about the rule of law and even about diverse ways to get to law school as I was tasked with proofreading and editing the subtitles for a Law Syrup episode (OJEN’s podcast) on this topic! I was also able to learn about my own rights when it comes to healthcare. I did not know that I am legally entitled to make my own healthcare decisions despite not being 18 prior to working at OJEN. I learned this through one of the assignments I was given which was creating a draft for an OJEN In Brief. I thought this was very exciting to do as I was able to create this In Brief to educate my generation and future generations on their rights as youth. I also found this In Brief very exciting as it is supposed to be used as a high school education resource. As a high school student tasked with creating a draft, I was able to learn something new about my rights which is exactly what OJEN does in their work. I would say that this was the highlight of my time at OJEN. Working on this In Brief allowed me to expand my legal knowledge and even get credited as an author of an OJEN In Brief.  

I believe justice education is useful for young people as youth can be easily taken advantage of and even told things by parents and guardians that are not true. Youth should understand their own rights so that they can make their own decisions without being coerced into doing something because they believe they do not have the right to choose. The best way of enforcing these youth rights is through legal education, hence why it is extremely important especially nowadays in the age of social media where a whole new set of rights come into play.  

OJEN is doing amazing things by creating educational resources and workshops focused on helping everyday individuals to understand their own legal rights from simple things like buying a house to getting charged with a felony. Ultimately, I am eternally grateful to have been able to work with such an amazing organization filled with amazing individuals, I will carry this experience with me for many years to come.