Johnston mock trial students have been preparing for their upcoming season and recapping on their last season that was filled with a lot of success. Students are helping with middle school mock trial by creating teams and preparing for a new case to be dropped.
Many students love mock trial for all the work it takes and that their hard work pays off. They love to hang out with their friends and spend a lot of time with them during the season.
“My favorite part of mock trial is getting to combine things I like such as acting, speaking, arguing and writing and also the competitions. They are always stressful but rewarding and fun. I love getting to bond with my team as well throughout the season,” said Natalie Miller 27’.
Parents and teachers volunteer to sponsor a team. Each team has to have a sponsor, Cheryl Smith, High school/Middle school ELP teacher and mock trial coordinator coaches out of student interest to help students with their season.
“Before I started teaching at Johnston, I was coaching high school mock trial and MS mock trial at my former school district for about 12 years. I started teaching there because I had a student do mock trial in middle school but we did not have an high school program anymore and she asked me to coach mock trial,” said Cheryl Smith
Johnston’s Mock Trial teams did well last season with four teams advancing to state. These were The Mockingjays, Mocked In, Wheeler of Fortune, and Mo’Rial. Miller was a part of Mo’Rial team which advanced to state but didn’t advance to finals. It was still a very successful season for Mo’Royal with a team full of freshmen.
”I did well. Our team worked very hard January-March to prepare for the regional competition, and then we advanced to the playoffs which decides who is continuing to state. We won the playoffs so then we continued to State! We did well at State but unfortunately didn’t advance to the finals. Judges nominate outstanding witnesses and attorneys and at several of the trials I received it. Overall, all the Johnston teams are very good at Mock Trial,” stated Miller.
Last season was Smith’s first year being an ELP coach at Johnston and she coached the high school mock trial team at the middle school . Students appreciated the knowledge she brought to the young team.
“I coached a 9th grade team along with Ms. McFarland who was an attorney coach for our team. Our team was named Mo’Rial which was an inside joke. I believe we placed 23rd in the state which was pretty impressive since we had a team of all 9th graders,” said Smith.
Each mock trial season is assigned a case that goes back and forth between criminal and civil. Civil cases are disputes between people or organizations and criminal cases are a violation of criminal law. They are fake cases that the students act out.
“My favorite case was last year’s, which was based on the movie The Princess Bride. A person was being charged for murdering a giant and it looked into both the pasts of the accused who was a MMA fighter and the deceased, who was rumored to be in a gang and also got kicked out of bars. I thought the references to the movie were fun and I also got to play the accused and while that was challenging, I also really enjoyed it,” stated Miller.
There are also opportunities for high school students to help middle school students in their first years of mock trial. This has helped Johnston’s mock trial continue to be a great program as learning has been passed on.
“That is our superpower! That is what makes Johnston great because like I said I coached mock trial at my former district, I had one or two students that helped and we weren’t as much of a superpower. I think the reason our HS teams do well is because those teams are very invested in teaching the younger kids how to mock and it also strengthens their skills. I think that is what makes us have a dynamo program concerning other districts around,” stated Smith.
The mock trial season lasts about 4 months starting with scrimmages then regional competition, playoffs, and then state competitions.
“The high school mock trial case is released in mid-December so that is when we are assigned teams and read through the case for the first time, and then practices begin in January and go through the end of March, which is when state competition is,” stated Miller.
Mock trial teaches students how to develop knowledge about the law, critical thinking skills, and oral advocacy skills. It has also helped students decide their future careers.
“Mock trial has taught me skills such as public speaking, writing, acting, and knowledge of how the legal system works. It’s taught me that I have a passion for public speaking and writing and possibly want to pursue the career of a lawyer,” stated Miller.
Smith loves mock trial due to the open-mindedness of the students and the ability to be creative in the process as well. She enjoys watching the teams in action and seeing their hard work pay off.
“I really enjoy having them understand the problem which in mock trial, the case is called a problem because the way mock trial is written, there isn’t a specific answer about what happened so you are given a lot of information and that information is sometimes good for your side and is sometimes bad for the side you are arguing. You have to sift through the information and decide which story you want to tell and how you want to spin it. I like the creativity and the thinking that goes along with it. It’s like a structured improv,” said Smith.
Johnston mock trial is posed for another fantastic season with a new middle school mock trial system for participating and continuation of learning being shared through the students to keep the standard high.
“I think this is going to be a tremendous season. I think we are likely to have just as many kids if not more want to participate and I’m just really excited to see what this year’s case will be,” stated Smith.