On Wednesday April 16th, the team that developed the Civics Educations course, Honorable Cynthia Rufe, Tracy Timby, Vice President Workforce and Strategic Partnerships, Carol Shelly, Esq, and the program coordinator, Maria Correra were able to sit down to discuss the courses origins, why they wanted to start the course, and what the course is supposed to teach.
“It’s not a user-friendly guide of the law, or a general idea of what the law might be, it is the law. This class teaches the law plain and simple, through and through.” Carol Shelly says about how the material is taught throughout the course.
Rufe first created the Civics Education in 2018 with the help of her co-creator Midge Rendell, and a push from Julie Goldstein, the president of the bar at the time, who was adamant about the class to be taught in Bucks County.
The course’s topics within each class were centered around the rights and laws contained in the Bill of Rights as shared by Rufe.
Rufe eventually approached Bucks County Community College with the idea of bringing this course to the college, and after agreeing to it, the course was instated and a BAR issued grant is used to cover the cost of all the course’s classes.
Timby shared how important it is in this online age to learn the facts about the law as opposed to what someone’s interoperation of it, and both Cynthia and Carol echoed the same sentiments as they believe people aren’t educated enough about their basic civil rights.
Before sitting in on the class that was about to begin, Rufe described the classes as not entertaining, but as an engaging and interactive experience with a good amount of crowd participation when they open the room up for questions towards the end of the class.
Civics Education is an 8-week course that aims to teach people about the law and their rights as a citizen in the United States. Classes are held once a week on Wednesdays in the Gallagher room from 6:00 P.M. – 7:15 P.M.
The Class held on Wednesday was about voting rights and election laws, and it was led by State Judge Jordan Yaeger along with fellow guest speakers Kathy Boockavr, Amy Fitzpatrick, and Elizabeth Fritsch teaching different topics relating to the overall theme of the class.
Due to the notoriety of the guest speakers, along with their professions, there were extra security measures taking place during the class as not only was there the typical bucks security, but also multiple law enforcement officers stationed within the class for extra security.
There was about 20 to 25 people in attendance for the class that night, and the age range of attendees was a wide variety spanning from mid-twenties to seemingly people in their late 60s or early 70s.
It was a lectured style class that had the guest speakers teaching election laws and policies that the public should be aware of. Both known and unknown laws were discussed as no details were left behind over the course of the whole class.
Things such as Voter services, Act 77, the changes of mail-in voting throughout the years, the concept of gerrymandering, and the role both federal and state courts play in the voting process during elections were all discussed during the class, and at the end people were free to ask any questions that they had for the panel.
Civics Education is an organized and well ran course that is recommended for anybody to take, so that you can learn more about their basic civil rights and they what effect they might have on your life.