For students that enjoy arguing a case in their AP social studies classes, there’s a new club at Conifer offering the opportunity to do just that; the mock trial team. With advisor Dawn Benish running the show, Conifer students now have the opportunity to explore the depths of law, understand the ways of a courtroom and put their arguing and acting skills to practice.
“Students learn a whole lot from the club. They learn how to speak publicly. They learn all about critical thinking as far as going through statements of different witnesses and trying to figure out where they can win the case. They learn about rhetoric and arguing. They also learn about the basic aspects of the court system,” Benish said.
Benish, who is the AP US History teacher at Conifer, was approached by various students looking for an advisor for a mock trial team; headed by sophomore Annika Ramsey, the club was born. The group typically meets once on the weekends, twice after school, and occasionally during lab.
“I think that mock trial is fun and interesting so it’s something I wanted to be a part of,” Benish said. “It’s fun for all different kinds of kids, even if they’re not interested in law.”
“Mock Trial is super fun, we basically get to simulate a real court trial, but the students are playing all of the roles and learning how this all really works. We’re expanding our learning,” Annikah Ramsey said.
Though Ramsey, among others, is interested in pursuing a career in law, mock trial can be an opportunity for students in acting to grow their learning as well. Sophomore Gabie Bartlett joined in order to better their acting skills and engage in this new opportunity.
“Mock Trial is really fun. I’m a witness so my whole job is to act and it’s just really fun hanging out with that group of people,” Bartlett said.
In mock trial competitions, each school must bring to the table 12 students that are evenly divided into defense and plaintiff. There are three lawyers and three witnesses to each side, so teams must work together to bolster each other’s cases and poke holes in the opposing team’s testimony.
The new team recently competed in their first competition on February 23rd and 24th at the Jeffco Courthouse. Representing Conifer, they won a professionalism award for their excellent decorum in the courtroom. Working as a team led them to their first victory, and it is the community that drove their success.
“It’s super positive. We’re all trying to help each other because the two different sides aren’t going against each other in competition. There’s no animosity and we all want to make each other’s questions better because we get points as a team,” Ramsey said.
