Mock Trial
On the 16th of September, I attended the first meeting of the Mock Trial Club. Sadly, there was a very small turnout with only four new possible participants. The meeting was very interesting. It started out with a small, shorter mock trial based off of last year’s presentation. Jeremy Knapp, the president of the Mock Trial Club explained to me and the other newcomers what mock trial was all about. It is “a competitive team that spends about six months preparing a fake court case to present at the district competition at the end of February.” The whole thing is very professional.
There are many reasons one would want to join Mock Trial. There’s an acting portion with the witnesses; if you choose to be a witness you get to make your own character based off of a statement. If you’re interested in law, this is a great opportunity for you as well. Through six months, the whole group works together to create characters and write speeches to perform at the competition. What does this have to do with law, you ask? Well, in doing so, you learn about how law works and what the witnesses and lawyers do to prepare for a case. Mock trial also gets the opportunity to work with two professional lawyers. Mock trial teaches public speaking, improvisation, leadership, creativity, the legal process, and writing skills. However, one of the most important pieces of mock trial is teamwork. The whole process is very team oriented.
You may know that the Mock trial club attends at least one competition every year. First is the district which is held at the local courthouse with three or four teams. The top team from that competition gets to move on to state. The state competition is held at the courthouse in Olympia. This competition has 22 teams.
Last year, the Windward team got second place in the district competition, but they almost got to go to state with the wild card. Sadly,they placed 23rd overall in the state, so they just barely missed the opportunity never the less, The group has high hopes for this year.
Another fun aspect involved in participating in Mock Trial is the opportunity to participate in Teen Court. Teen Court is a youth run court with real offenders. Don’t worry, the offender is usually a second or third time offender and has already admitted guilty. The cases are all minor, nothing major, like murder. You may ask, "well if they’ve already admitted guilty, why are they being tried?" This trial is for dealing consequences. Teen Court is a “unique way to learn about the consequences of criminal behavior and how it affects the community. The point of Teen Court is to reform criminals and restore the community to where it was before the crime was committed. The interesting thing is that this point is achieved 92% of the time. If you’re interested in Teen Court, you can ask Mr. Perkins during lunch. For more information about mock trial, ask Mr. Perkins or Jeremy Knapp about it. Remember, you must participate in Mock Trial to join Teen Court.
In short, I really encourage those who are interested to join. From what I’ve seen, it’s a lot of fun. Mock Trial can appeal to almost everyone, so even if you’re just curious, come by on Wednesday after school from 2:15-4:00 p.m. There is an activity bus for those of you who need it. Also, if this isn’t enough to convince you, there are parties. From what I’ve heard the're quite a few of them, and they’re a lot of fun. Anyone can join, and the club is even seeing if we can find a way to let Ferndale High students join us. There are no requirements. So come on by, especially if you’re a freshman. Don’t be shy.
