Lawyers in Bloom
Nothing is worse than walking into a courtroom, unaware of what is to come. To eliminate such experience, the former president of Peninsula Mock Trial, senior Kayden Roxas, decided to host spring training sessions from March 13, 2023 to March 22, 2023, and the current president, junior Sophie Wang, decided to continue them. Set to take place from March 3 and continue for four weeks, these sessions will allow people interested in joining Mock Trial to familiarize themselves with the team before tryouts in September.
Hosting the sessions will benefit both the new members and the existing team. For the prospective members, it is a great opportunity to experience what Mock Trial is like in action. They would be provided the previous year’s case packet, a documentation of a hypothetical case which is used during the competitions, to then act out the roles of lawyers and witnesses provided in the packet. Additionally, these new members would be given training from the attorney coaches experienced in the field of law. As their season ends in the fall semester, this new addition to their schedule helps keep the returning members sharp, occupied and ready for the next season. Returning member and senior Michelle Batbayer feels that attending the training sessions has directly led to a drastic improvement in her performance.
“In the years before [the training sessions], I often felt nervous or shaky while presenting in front of others due to my lack of experience in this skill,” said Batbayer. “However, attending the newly implemented spring sessions was the best move for me to up my game for the next year’s competition. I could directly draw from the lessons and advice given to us by our amazing attorney coaches to improve my performance in practice and competition during the fall. Because of the tips and tricks I learned, such as how to conduct my body language and vocal tone to be an effective presenter and how to efficiently communicate with team members during a trial, practice sessions in the fall felt more like a review rather than a completely new experience.”
The board has been carefully planning to make sure the training sessions are successful. To advertise the program and the spring training sessions, the team put up a QR code at the annual Open House, which attracted attention and gave information about the team to prospective 8th graders, amassing over 60 interested students. With this level of interest, the board has been working hard to prepare for spring. These preparations included sending out the case packet and putting together the materials to train the participants of the session on basic aspects such as what being a lawyer, witness and bailiff means or how objections work. Roxas hopes that through the sessions, the team will be able to recruit talented and dedicated new members.
“We hope to increase recruitment from all grades,” Roxas said. “The new Mock Trial board and I have scheduled recruitment days at two middle schools: Ridgecrest Intermediate School and Rolling Hills Country Day School. We recently went to Ridgecrest and spoke to four social studies classes [which has helped us garner] a lot of attention regarding our program. What we are trying to do with these training sessions is not only give new members a chance to see how Mock Trial works, but also scope out new talent for the upcoming season, and we are looking forward to how the training and the fall season will look.”
Going forward, Wang hopes to put the most dedicated members on the A team to ensure the team stays competitive, while putting some prospective members that need more development on the B team through the spring training sessions. Wang believes that because training sessions mirror the actual competition in its intensity and short time limits, it will help the team scout for new members that display the ability to think quickly on spot, which will help secure positive results at the competitions.
“We are testing the waters with spring training,” Wang said. “But we expect to find some new talent. This year, we want our team to be more compact and put our best foot forward. The harder [they] work and prepare the more it shows, so we are looking for grit. Winning the competition is important of course, but I feel like the process is more fun. Although moving far into the competition would be nice, it is extremely difficult every year which is why this year we are recruiting even earlier.”
