On Tuesday, November 20th, the Business and Personal Law class took a field trip to Moneygram International to learn more about the company and Street Law.

The Business and Personal Law class is a class for students that want to learn about all kinds of laws. The class involves class discussions, case studies, and outside speakers that help the class learn how to deal with legal problems and issues more successfully.

Moneygram International is a money transfer company. It is the second largest behind Western Union. The company can transfer money either by postal mail or online. Sending money online is so easy; you just select how much you want to send and where to send it and then ten minutes later the transfer is complete.

MoneyGram’s beginnings date back to 1940, when a small money order company under the name Travelers Express opened in Minneapolis, Minn. Since then, Travelers Express has become MoneyGram International, and has grown up to offer a variety of payment and financial services to a global market.

Street Law programs help youth throughout the U.S. and around the world to become more informed, engaged, and effective participants in democracy. By gaining knowledge about laws and government systems and the skills to use that knowledge, Street Law encourages young people to take an active role in the civic life of their schools, communities, and nation.

Street Law, Inc., a world-renowned non-profit provider of education about law, democracy, and human rights, has teamed up with the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) to develop a corporate legal diversity pipeline program. Designed to encourage young people of color to extend their educations and consider law-related careers, this award winning project pairs teachers at urban high schools with corporate lawyers to reach at-risk, disadvantaged children.

Why Street Law Programs are needed:

MoneyGram Fieldtrip

This trimester, a Business and Personal Law class got the chance to go to one of the biggest money transfer corporations in the world - MoneyGram International. Ms. Hamre's first hour class was given lessons by some of MoneyGram's legal personnel. Several groups of employees visited Park Center to educate the students on matters of their business. The students were taught about basic parts of working in a business like MoneyGram: the contracts, policies, and advertisements. After a few class lessons, Ms. Hamre and her students were invited to the MoneyGram International tower for a day. While there, the students participated in many activities. One especially interesting activity was a mock sexual harassment investigation. The students were able to experience exactly how MoneyGram policies are carried out.

Following the mock investigation was a little speech by Cornell Moore, which many of the students found inspiring. Mr. Moore defined the epitome of what you can be if you apply yourself. Growing up in segregation, he continued through his life with a goal in mind and he achieved that goal. Now having been practicing law for about forty three years, he came and spoke to the class about what can happen if you really go for what you want. Towards the end of the day, the students took part in a college fair, which featured different companies, law and paralegal schools, the Park Center PSEO program, and simply MoneyGram employees giving advice on careers.

The Park Center Business and Personal Law class was chosen by MoneyGram International to be the first school to take a field trip to their corporate offices. PC was chosen, in part, because of the school's large number of students of color and because of the diversity inside the school.

-Jared Almsted, PCSH Webteam