By Sawyer Beck
El Diamante’s Mock Trial team is an ongoing competition against the schools of Tulare County. In the Visalia Courthouse this past week and next week several teams from other schools including El Diamante compete to go to state. Only the top four teams qualify for semi finales then one out of those four qualify for state.
Mock Trial, for those who don’t know, is a competition where schools across Tulare County schools compete in a fictional court case to argue their point. Teams practice for months to compete so it’s a lot of hard work for everyone involved. Though they get scored by two scores and a judge based on how well they do so it takes a lot of effort, memorization, and thinking on your feet. It’s not an easy task for anyone so teams try their best to win. This team all has to be run by someone or more than one person.
Mock Trial has three people who are mainly in charge of the case. Ms. Andrews is the coach for the Mock Trial. The Attorney President is Sydney Fifield who has been in Mock Trial four years and handles the attorneys teaching them how to be a believable attorney from her years of experience. Finally the Witness President Barclay Avila (four-year Mock Trial participant and the president) runs over the witnesses; he teaches them how to be a good witness using his years of experience.
What is a Mock Trial? A question all members face, so why not get the answer from the presidents? Barclay explained that “Mock trial is a competition in which students simulate a real trial and pretend as if they are a part of the trial process. Students can act as attorneys, witnesses, bailiffs, and courtroom clerks; and they compete to see which team plays their part better and makes a more compelling argument.” Originally both of the presidents wanted to be lawyers when they grew up and were gonna take their Mock Trial into the real world. Ms. Andrews went to law school so the team has a strong motivation to support and help the team when they need it.
Though people often wonder how to get in Mock Trial and what to do for their audition when they try out they forget to have fun with it a little. Sydney told me about her tips for new members and the ones she has currently, “My biggest tip for people who may want to join next year is to thoroughly prepare for your audition and don’t be nervous for it. There are plenty of spots on the team for people who want to be involved, so if you’re thinking about auditioning, take the chance and try out because chances are you will get a spot if you prepare for your audition. My other big tip for current and future team members is to have fun with Mock Trial. Mock Trial can be stressful at times when we get closer to competitions, but remember there is a whole team of people that have your back and want to see you succeed.”
Though these amazing presidents will be graduating this year leaving the team after four long years. Both care a lot and have taken a lot of time to make the Mock Trial team the best they can be. Both have hopes while Barclay’s hopes are, “I hope that the team can continue our success and recruit more members.” Barclay who has made this team especially the witness helping them through hard questions and ways to ramble to waste time for the other team.
Sydney has helped the attorney with the almost seemingly never-ending list of objections and the questions they have to memorize. Her hopes are, “When I leave high school, I hope a new batch of dedicated students take over the team and help the team do even better than we have in the last few years. Many of the team members this year are seniors, and so next year there will be many spots open for new people to take over. I hope all the new members will lead the team to have a successful year and maybe a victory over Redwood!”
As Barclay has mentioned earlier there are a lot of roles on a Mock trial team though while a lot of the members this year will be graduating there will be a lot of open spots. So next year when it’s club rush don’t be afraid to walk by the Mock Trial stand and sign up. Who knows if your audition goes well you might even be on the team.
Even when the season ends, even if our Mock trial team wins or loses, let’s support them either way. They have spent those late nights and early mornings trying their best for this school. We should all be proud of our teams for they represent our school even if it’s a basketball court or in the courtroom.