On Friday the Holy Family Mock Trial Team is headed to the state tournament at the Jefferson County Courthouse. After the regional tournament we thought state was not in the cards for us and we were only walking away with two best witnesses and a professionalism award, but after a points recount by the Bar Association we learned just a week ago that there was a mistake and we were actually going to state.
The team was surprised to say the least but now that we’ve recovered from our initial shock we are getting to work in preparation of March 8th and 9th. Sr. Piper Welling comments on this preparation saying, “We do not practice everyday after school, aka, don’t come and kill me, I hate morning practices.” Well, I’ll be honest I was hoping for something a little more but she’s not wrong. For practices we scrimmage each other as much as possible and fine tune all arguments and statements, making sure we’re as prepared as possible for state.
So why does someone join mock trial?
Well personally I was blackmailed into it by alumni Emily Bell but since joining I have loved every moment of it, and I’m so blessed to be one of the Co-Captains of the team. Sr. Alexander Potter joined because “Sam (me) made me, however I stayed because I find an interest in law and like debating and seeing people cry.” I think you’ll find a common theme within mock trial is being told to join at first but then learning to love it. Another example of this is Jr. Daniel Trainor who said “I was told to, but it’s a good group of people, you skip school a couple of days, and it helps introduce you to law.” What did I say? Common theme.
So what is mock trial? Time and time again people ask me what it is and people have preconceived notions as to what we do, so who better to say what mock trial is than the CO Bar Association:
“The CBA (Colorado Bar Association) High School Mock Trial Program is a positive academic program that gives students an opportunity to expand their speaking, writing, reading, and analytical skills while learning about the judicial system. The students play the role of attorneys and witnesses in a fictitious case. To play these roles, students are introduced to a number of life skills that will be helpful to them in their future, such as teamwork and collaboration; the importance and value of setting goals; the value of strategic planning and implementation; productive argumentative and persuasive skills; critical thinking skills; and the ability to face challenging obstacles with enthusiasm, professionalism and confidence.”
So what advice does the team have for people looking to join?
Co captain and Sr. Madeleine Fernandez says to “Work hard, it will pay off in the end and you will be so grateful that you joined.”
Jr. Daniel Trainor says “It’s incredibly time consuming and a lot of effort so get your friends to do it and just have fun with it.”
My advice would be to just throw yourself in, mock trial isn’t something you half do and when regionals comes the amount of work you put in will show. It’s an incredibly important extracurricular that will help you find positive benefits in your life from your critical thinking skills to your speaking skills so it’s worth it to join for those benefits.
So I leave you with this:
If you get the chance, join mock trial! No matter how much we may joke about how we hate it, it truly is super important to us and we recognize why people should join. Additionally, if you have a spare moment congratulate members of the team and wish them luck at state!
