Stacey Brown, an incoming eighth-grader at Atascadero Junior High School, participated in LeadAmerica’s National Junior Leadership Conference on Law held from July 30 through Aug. 8 on the campus of Stanford University.

The NJLC “Discover Law and the Courtroom” is a 10-day leadership program in which students act as prosecutors or defense attorneys in a mock trial. Brown and fellow students learned how to analyze and present evidence, prepare witnesses for trial and make opening arguments and closing statements in a hands-on learning environment.

LeadAmerica is the nation’s premier youth leadership organization and is committed to providing quality leadership education, empowering teenage leaders and instilling in them ethical and principled leadership values, attitudes and skills. Each of its high school conferences is college-accredited and its programs are approved activities of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. LeadAmerica sponsors the Congressional Student Leadership Conference for high school students, the National Junior Leaders Conference for middle and junior high school students, Ambassadors Abroad international study programs in China, Australia and Europe and the Washington Summer Scholars, a college-level academic program held in partnership with American University.

While attending the conference, Brown participated in a mock trial, serving as one of three defense attorneys, and learned how to read and understand affidavits and other evidence, make opening and closing arguments and question and cross-examine witnesses. The prosecution and defense teams each had three attorneys and three witnesses.

“I want to pursue law as a career,” she said “My favorite part of the conference was the mock trial because we had the opportunity to argue for the defense and to defend our client.”

The client in Brown’s mock trial was “Bobby,” a diabetic with HIV. The case dealt with an assault charge and, as a result, Child Protective Services was trying to take his children away.

“As defense attorneys, we were trying to prove that he didn’t know he was HIV [positive] and that, based on evidence, he shouldn’t be convicted of assault in the second degree,” Brown said. “Everyone was doubting the innocence of our client and it was our job to find the details to prove his innocence and argue that point effectively. It was very exciting for me.”

Conference participants also attended several interactive leadership workshops, which were designed to build positive leadership skills and character traits. Brown was nominated by one of her teachers at San Benito Road Elementary School to participate in the conference along with 180 students from schools across the nation, including 155 high school students and 25 middle school students. Each of the students was nominated based on grades and school background and were divided equally between prosecution and defense teams to argue their case.

“I was surprised to be nominated,” she said. “It felt really good because I worked really hard and it shows that hard work really pays off.”

Brown said she has wanted to earn an undergraduate degree and attend law school at Stanford University since she first visited the campus as a fourth-grader. She noted that she enjoyed her first experience of college life on the Palo Alto campus by staying in a dormitory with other conference participants and taking part in educational activities, which were held from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. every day for 10 days.

Conference participants delivered their arguments in San Francisco Superior Court before sightseeing and visiting the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Chinatown and shopping at Pier 39 in the heart of San Francisco.

Brown is the daughter of Tammy and Alex Brown of Atascadero and she has a brother, Steven. Her mother, Tammy, said LeadAmerica conferences are offered nationwide, focusing on topics ranging from robotics to crime scene investigation, and noted that her daughter jumped at the chance to participate in the law conference. She said conference participants paid nearly $3,000 each in order to participate in the conference, and many participants raised the money from local philanthropic organizations that wished to support education.

Brown received support from financial donors including Quota International of Atascadero, Conceptual Design and Planning, Santa Lucia chapter of the Knights of Columbus, Atascadero Elks, The Optimist Club of Atascadero, Alpha Gama Sorority, Tom Schuller, CS Nino Building Corp., Sharon Knoeppel and the Futak family.

Brown said LeadAmerica also sponsors conferences in foreign countries such as Australia, but noted those conferences cost $6,000 per person to participate.

“We’re lucky that the conference was so close because we didn’t have to spend the money on airfare and could drive her to Palo Alto ourselves,” Tammy said.

Brown said the conference featured prominent lawyers, judges and legal experts, as well as university professors, who served as guest lecturers during the event.

“Leadership can make important differences in the lives of teenagers in both their academic and personal lives, their acceptance to the college of their choice and their level of focus, passion and purpose,” Chris Salamone, LeadAmerica founder and executive director, said in a written statement. “It is the key to what they do with their lives and how well they do it. In today’s world, it is imperative that we nurture leadership potential from a very young age. Since 1989, I have had the privilege of seeing more than 60,000 exceptional students from more than 51 countries learn first-hand about leadership and explore its role in a variety of educational disciplines. It’s my sincere hope that LeadAmerica will give young leaders the skills to help them along the road toward a successful and rewarding life of leadership.”

Brown said she was inspired to pursue law as a career after watching the television legal drama, “JAG,” about the military’s judge advocates general in which the characters seek to find evidence to establish the innocence of their clients.

In her spare time, Brown plays sports including basketball, softball and volleyball and enjoys spending time with her friends.

For more information about LeadAmerica and the NJLC, visit www.lead-america.org or call 866-394-5323.