She’d led a parade of local children with red paper lanterns to a small bridge overlooking the Sound to close out the Tacoma Moon Festival, an annual event presented by the Chinese Reconciliation Project Foundation and about two dozen community partners to mark the end of summer, usher in fall, and celebrate diversity in Tacoma.

The 17 students, variously clad in busted-knee jeans, leggings, hiking boots, puffer jackets, and a lone plaid flannel shirt, were pretty quiet for the first 25 minutes as two Washington Supreme Court justices talked about their work to the class Thinking Ethically: What Is Justice? Then it was question time. A hand popped up.