St. Vrain’s pre-law summer camp at the Career Elevation & Technology Center gives middle schoolers an early look at legal careers through real-world experiences.

Rising seventh grader Owen Lere took on the role of both a lawyer and a witness as he and his team tried to convince a jury to award damages in a fictitious case of a boy who was burned during a school marshmallow melting experiment.

While his side didn’t prevail — the defense had a legal edge — the experience only increased his enthusiasm for learning about the legal system with a goal of becoming an actual lawyer.