The countdown is on for Ohio Schools to apply for transportation grants to pay for bus tours to and from the Ohio Supreme Court.

Reynoldsburg HS2 is one of the schools vying for the grant.  They secured one last year and want students to come back.

“I had a lot of fun,” said senior Brady Madison. “Seeing how the building was structured and how it’s a representation of Ohio.  I was surprised the amount of people who came in and sat in on the case.”

Besides the tour, this group of seniors got to sit in during oral arguments.

“It was a little less elegant than I thought it was going to be,” said senior Nathan Reynolds. “I thought it was going to be souped up, everyone talking in real legal terms, but it sounded like a couple of people arguing really.”

The students were stunned at the procedures of the court. For example, just when an attorney is arguing a case, a justice jumps in with a question.

“At first I was taken aback by it, I’m not going to lie,” said Miranda Bickert. “Since they only get a set amount of time, I thought the attorneys would be able to talk the whole time.  But I guess it does make sense.”

All schools that receive state funds are eligible to apply. Grants are awarded based on the schools’ percentage of students enrolled in the free and reduced lunch program as reported by the Ohio Department of Education.

“It’s important that we have real experiences,” said Christine Schafrath, the students’ American government teacher. “We take this conceptual knowledge and put it into a real-life framework so they understand it not only on the academic level, but the functional level as well.”

She made sure they were prepared prior to oral arguments.

“My teacher Miss Schafrath had us read a whole bunch of articles,” said senior Elijah Thurston.

The seniors who took the trip recommend Ohio schools apply for the transportation grants.

“If you are living in the United States, you should be experiencing.  What is my government doing? How do they figure out how the court process works?” asked senior Kiara Champion.

They say the tours, with help from transportation grants, are a valuable experience.

“I got to see how the judicial system actually works and what actually goes on because you really only get to hear, oh this is a case and this is how they rule on it.  But you don’t know really what happens behind the scenes.” said Bickert.

The deadline to file for a transportation grant is October 2nd. For more information, head to courtnewsohio.gov.