LOUISVILLE, Ky. (CNS) — As the news broke that Harper Lee, author of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” died Feb. 19, eighth graders from St. Aloysius School in Pewee Valley, Ky., were re-enacting the book’s famous trial in a courtroom at the Gene Snyder Courthouse in downtown Louisville.

During the last of three re-enactments, presiding Judge Charles R. Simpson III announced to the students that the Pulitzer Prize-winning author had died. She was 89.

“The kids were dumbstruck. I was completely in shock,” said Tosh Scheps, the St. Aloysius language arts teacher who led the field trip. “I love Harper Lee. If there was some silver lining, it added profundity to having that field trip.”

Lee’s death, he said, also helps people remember that the book’s themes – justice, fairness and equality – are not something of the past. “It’s a reminder of how contemporary that book is and how relevant,” Scheps told The Record, Louisville’s archdiocesan newspaper.

“What I hope they take away is that we have a system in place in America … to handle justice. But regardless of that system, justice is still dependent on the people who work in that system.”