The Olathe Public Schools partnered with Judge Robert J. Wonnell and the Kansas 10th Judicial District Court in Olathe, Johnson County, Kansas to offer the Third Grade Mock Trial Event, nationwide on Constitution Day, Sept. 17, 2025. 

The 2025 Constitution Day Mock Trial Event

Thank you to all third graders and their teachers across the United States who participated in the 2025 Constitution Day Mock Trial! There were 17,590 students from 736 classrooms in attendance! A special thank you to Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Marla Luckert, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, Delaware Governor Matt Meyer, and Kansas U.S. Senator Jerry Moran who joined to impart knowledge of the three branches of government. It was an incredible and historic event and so much fun!

Judge Robert J. Wonnell of the Kansas 10th Judicial District Court in Olathe, Kansas began this program with third graders at Forest View Elementary School over 10 years ago. The event has expanded beyond third grade classrooms in Olathe, to all of Kansas, and now nationwide! We hope this will continue to be an annual event.

The annual Constitution Day mock trial event is a great way to enrich social studies instruction in your classroom. The mock trial experience connects to the C3 Framework and the KSDE HGSS focus standard for third grade, which is that societies are shaped by the identities, beliefs, and practices of individuals and groups, and the reinforced standards that choices have consequences, and individuals have rights and responsibilities.

Students make connections with the third grade social studies content by learning about their community and the civic duties that people perform, such as following the law, showing respect for others, and serving on a jury. By participating in the mock trial, students learn about the court system, the branches of government, and the Constitution of the United States! As students listen to the evidence presented during the mock trial, each classroom functions as a jury that weighs the evidence and deliberates the facts to reach a verdict that is submitted to the Judge in real time. Students learn at the end of the event what the collective jury from across the nation decides — guilty or not guilty! Judge Wonnell concludes the event with Q & A time.