He may have been smiling, but District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Robert Rigsby barked his commands like a drill sergeant at a group of high school-age students.

Fix that tie. Take care of that belt. Stand up and speak out. His voice grew louder as the ­students, in his courtroom earlier this month for a law camp, repeated the program’s credo after him: “Manhood. Womanhood. Scholarship. Uplift. Perseverance.”