Attorneys and witnesses are plentiful in Room A103, and they are preparing for a trial. However, no conviction given in this court will be enforced in the Mock Trial Club, which was founded last year by social studies teacher Dawn Benish. In just one year the club has ballooned in size with returning members from last year to new freshmen, and this has given the club more witnesses, attorneys, and defendants that the team hopes has given Conifer a chance to win regionals, which are only a few months away.
The team was late for the tournament last year, but are on schedule this time for their competition. Their tournament will be centered around a criminal trial and will be held at the Jefferson County courthouse; including 12 different schools, some of which are able to field more than a single team, which Conifer hopes to also be able to achieve in this year’s competition.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to set up two full teams to compete this year,” junior Zach Brennan said. “As compared to last year where we had people having to double-up and last-minute fill-ins just due to people dropping.”
Practice for the tournament has included practice trials and assigned roles to familiarize members with the different jobs that they may have to do during the tournament. Benish is in the process of setting up try-outs for the different court positions including defense lawyers, witnesses, and prosecution lawyers. These try-outs will be held after the tournament case is released at midnight on Halloween.
“We have to study this case and we have to tear apart this case,” sophomore Nate Florence said. “And when the tournament comes we will be scored in front of a panel of real judges against another school’s prosecution or defense.”
In the previous tournament last year, the club began preparation late due to not knowing about the tournament until months after the case was released to the teams. This year, the team is aware and ready for the tournament and are preparing during lab as well as during weekends.
“It’s going to be a criminal trial,” club teacher Dawn Benish said. “So murder, assault, theft, things where there aren’t eye-witnesses.”
