 Carter Strang Carter Strang, ’73, M.Ed. ’79Teacher turned lawyer can’t leave the classroom behindBy Anna Riggenbach, Kent State magazine journalism studentThe Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association has added a unique twist on the three Rs commonly taught in school — “rights, responsibilities and realities” — and its members are sharing these perspectives and their legal expertise with more than 3,000 inner-city Cleveland students as guest lecturers in social studies classes. Kent State alumnus Carter Strang, ’73, M.Ed.’79, serves as chair of the 3Rs program, which provides assistance with the social studies portion of the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT), as well as career counseling for life after high school. Strang seeks volunteers for the program, serves as a lecturer himself and has spent countless hours with Cleveland school officials to improve and define the focus of this year’s program, including rewriting of all the lesson plans to be more “student centered” and focused on achievement of the objectives established for each lesson. “Many of these kids do not have a lot of direct contact with people practicing law and others in professional careers. Our hope is to help with goal-setting and career planning to assist these students in thinking more about what they want after graduation,” Strang says. Strang’s career path began at Kent State and was inspired by a special role model in his own life: his father, Leo, who was hired as the head football coach in 1964. A middle school student when his father took the position, Strang and his family moved to Kent from Massillon, Ohio. “I practically lived in Memorial Gym on the weekends and went to all the sporting events and concerts,” Strang says. “There really wasn’t any question in my mind where I wanted to go for college.” Once at Kent State, he enrolled in the Honors College and played football and hockey. He earned a degree in education and never regretted the decision.  A photo from Strang’s student days, when he played football for Kent State. He is no. 8 in the middle of the front row. After teaching for a few years, he was invited to teach a criminology class, which inspired his career change. “I was looking for a new challenge, and it was the right time to do it,” he says. Encouraged by other teachers, Strang took night classes to get his law degree. In 1984, his hard work paid off when he graduated from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. He started at Arter & Hadden before taking a job at Tucker Ellis & West LLP, where he is now a partner with a focus on environmental litigation. While in his current position, Strang accepted the job as chair of the 3Rs program in the summer of 2007. After serving as a volunteer the previous year, he saw firsthand the impact the program was having on area students. He thinks this type of public/private community partnership works because of the personal satisfaction the volunteers gain and the tremendous benefits the students receive. “It’s difficult to get high-school-age kids to sit down to set goals and formulate a plan for the future — to think about, ‘What are the things you want to do and what do you need to do to get there?’” In addition to providing a structure for goal-setting, lessons for the 3Rs classes have included explanations of due process, search and seizure and the First Amendment. This is the second year for the program, and it works in conjunction with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District along with East Cleveland Shaw High School. It was recognized as a model for bar association/school partnerships nationally, and has won both the LexisNexis Community Outreach and Education Award and the 2007 American Bar Association’s Partnership Award.  Carter Strang and students from John Hay High School study the “3Rs.” “We would love to see the program grow and have seen a lot of interest in that happening,” he says. “It is something that would work well in Akron and other school systems.” Strang’s involvement with the community doesn’t stop with the 3Rs program. He is vice president of the Federal Bar Association (Northern District Ohio Chapter) and a Cleveland Bar Trustee. He is also a member of the Kent State University Honors College Advisory Board, and has set up two Kent State awards in honor of his parents: the Leo Strang Award, given each year to a football player; and the Betty Strang Award, given to an art student in the Honors College, where his mother worked as a secretary for a number of years. But, most importantly, Strang has enjoyed this opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of Cleveland-area students. As he wrote in his Cleveland Bar Journal article urging area lawyers to sign up: “Participation in 3Rs has a positive effect that cannot truly ever be measured.” To learn more about the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association’s 3Rs Program, visit www.clevelandbar.org. | |||||
