The Mock Trial Team learned, grew, and gauged its abilities and strengths while competing at the Harvard University competition.
“As one of the captains, I was able to see the growth in some of our newer members,” said senior Karleigh McKenna about their performance while the team was in Boston from Oct. 31 through Nov. 3. “We use Harvard as a learning experience rather than a real competition. Given that, we try to let the new or less experienced individuals put what they’ve learned into action so we can see their strengths and weaknesses. As I was watching the trial, it was incredible to see the skills they possessed so early on in the year. As well as this, it was clear that their teamwork with the rest of the team paid off and allowed them to shine as a whole rather than individually.”
“We went into the competition unsure about how it would turn out, but throughout it, gained confidence and accomplished our goal of being a strong team,” said sophomore Rowan Fortin about the team’s success in Boston.
The competition revealed true character and an expansion of knowledge, it showed how far members can come from a first-time start at something new.
“During the trial, the lawyers were very confident when raising objections. As this is a difficult part of being a lawyer, it was cool to see everyone grow since the beginning of the year,” said sophomore Rowan Fortin.
Each member played an important role in helping attain success in the trial and show the strengths they learned early on.
“As a captain, I have to make sure I possess leadership qualities, setting a good example, and acting as a coach for the team,” said senior Karleigh McKenna about her role as captain. “Since this was the first trial that the new members did, they had a lot of questions. I had to be present and active, keep the team on task, not only answer their questions but also teach them, and most importantly create a fun and exciting environment. It got a little overwhelming at times with so much to do but I could not be more impressed by the team.”
Fortin also spoke of her role on the team.
“My role was the closing lawyer. For this, I wrote my closing in advance and incorporated notes from the trial into it. This is important because it sums up our team’s argument for the judge one last time,” she said.
A different case was presented at the trial, received from Harvard to each group and each group had a task of taking on this role of the case.
“Our trial was a civil case related to the inheritance of a billionaire. We had to argue that the defendant either did or didn’t take part in their father’s murder depending on the side we were on,” said Fortin about the case her group presented.
The case that was presented was about two siblings who had to figure out how their father died and who was responsible for it, said McKenna.
The team came together to find ways to prepare for an event like this, which enabled the team to gauge abilities and strengths through mentorship and guidance provided by the university.
“Harvard Mock Trial team breaks down every aspect of the mock trial into lectures that the attending teams listen to and take notes on,” said Mckenna about how they prepared for this trial. “We then have breakout sessions where each team works with a member of the Harvard mock trial team to write and build our case for the trial.”
The team practices at 7:30 am every morning going over every role they have for Mock Trial, said Fortin.
The Mock Trial Team did more than compete in Boston, on days off they visited Salem and attended other activities.
“At Salem, some groups went sightseeing, and others trick-or-treated,” said Fortin. “There was a festival, and a bunch of houses surrounding it were passing out candy. It was packed everywhere with people dressed up in costumes.”
The team toured Boston history and experienced different tours, museums, monuments, and cemeteries, according to McKenna.
Featured Photo (at top): The Mock Trial team established goals for the school year based on its performance at the Harvard University competition. In addition to spending time in the classroom, the team also had the opportunity to experience Halloween in Salem. Photo from Karleigh McKenna
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