To honor the memory of Corporal Thomas Frey, a bailiff who had worked at the Pasco County Sherriff’s Office for 20 years and passed away on April 30, 2014, Honorable Judge Firmani established an essay contest. All Pasco County high school and middle schools’ Teen Court members were invited to participate in the contest with the winners receiving a book from the Judge’s own personal library and the school of the 1st place winner receiving a complete set of Florida statutes. The essay prompt was the following one:
Given the fact that the U.S. Constitution was signed 227 years ago in 1787, how well has the document held up to deal with modern technology like computers and drones, items not even dreamed of by our founding fathers.
Two students from Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School entered the contest, Natalia Hernandez and Mark Detlor, and on May 14 the winners were announced at the Teen Court’s Award Ceremony. To our delight, both of our students won! Natalia Hernandez won 1st place and Mark Detlor was right behind her with a 2nd place win. Each student received a book from Judge Firmani’s own library and our school received a complete set of Florida statutes for our library. This is a very big accomplishment for our students and our school considering that 13 schools entered the contest and it was the first time the Sixth Judicial Circuit’s Juvenile Diversion program had sponsored such a contest. Judge Firmani praised our students’ essays and encouraged them to participate in next year’s essay contest. Congratulations to Natalia and Mark on a well-done job!
