The cities of Southlake, Grapevine, Keller, and Colleyville came together on Thursday, April 16, to celebrate the volunteers who make Teen Court a success. The appreciation banquet, held from 5:00-6:30 p.m. at Keller Town Hall, recognized the adults and teens who dedicate their time to giving young people a second chance.
Teen Court offers teens cited for Class C misdemeanors an alternative to traditional court proceedings, keeping violations off their records.
“We are wholly dependent on volunteers,” said Dana Kirkland, Teen Court supervisor. “Adults serve as room monitors, judges, mentors, and jury monitors. Teens can volunteer for jury duty. Specially trained teens work our most serious cases in the courtroom as teen attorneys.”
The program’s impact extends beyond clearing citations. Participants often become inspired to join the program themselves after seeing teen attorneys in action.
“They are impressed by our teen attorneys’ knowledge, quick thinking, and public speaking skills, and think, ‘I’d like to do that!'” Kirkland explained. “It’s a great opportunity to try it out and see if it’s really what they want to do.”
Currently, Kirkland manages a volunteer roster of 196 teens, carefully scheduling their service to ensure everyone gets equal opportunities. The demand is so high that it can take a full year between turns to serve as a juror.
When asked about the most rewarding aspect of the program, Kirkland noted that during scholarship interviews, “teens almost always say the most rewarding part of volunteering in Teen Court is the friendships they’ve made. Teen attorneys work very closely together on cases.”
This year’s scholarship winners are Adja Niang and Aubrey Levitan. Both senior teen attorneys have served over 50 lifetime volunteer hours in Teen Court, including 24 hours during their senior year. After completing their applications and sitting for interviews with the advisory board, they were awarded scholarship money in recognition of their exceptional commitment to the program.
Interested teens can fill out a volunteer application at https://www.cityofsouthlake.com/2565/How-to-Volunteer. After completing the application process and receiving a welcome email from Volunteer Southlake, teens interested in jury duty should email Dana Kirkland to get their names on her roster.
Those interested in becoming teen attorneys should note that training is held once annually during the summer and is limited to rising freshmen, sophomores, and some juniors. This summer’s training session is already at capacity, but Teen Court is accepting names for the summer 2027 waitlist. Interested students can email Dana Kirkland directly to be added to the list.
