“We just had to go in believing we can and we will,” said junior Ruhika Anand.
According to Anand, this was the mindset that Parkway South’s mock trial team had going into its first competition of the year against Francis Howell on Jan. 13 at the St Louis County Courthouse. South ended up winning the competition with a final score of 3-0.
Mock Trial competitions consist of two competing schools who are arguing a specific court case. The topic of the case against Francis Howell was very interesting, according to junior Mariam Rana.
“It was a criminal case, specifically a homicide case. The case was about someone being poisoned by something they are allergic to, which is an interesting concept to work with,” Rana said.
Mock Trial creates a lifelike court case in the form of a competition. Teams get points each time someone from their school does a direct or cross-examination, opening or closing statement, and when an attorney or witness is questioned. The speaker receives a score out of 10 based on how well they did. After each round, the jurors and judges come together, add up all the points and then rule in favor of either the prosecution or defense team. The winning team receives a ballot from the judges. A team needs two out of three ballots to win the competition. Against Francis Howell, South won each round of competition.
South was competing as the prosecution side of the case against Francis Howell. There are a lot of roles that need to be played for a mock trial prosecution to run smoothly according to Rana.
“We have so many people doing so many important things. Aksheetha [Santhoshkumar] is an expert witness, Jessica [Raj] is a college freshman witness, Ruhika is a high school teacher witness. It’s important they know all their information,” Rana said. “Julia [Emde] is a lawyer, Anum [Khan] is an HR rep, Sahar [Sajid] is a lawyer who does direct and cross, Zayna [Fakhani] and Maddie [Kessler] are both attorneys who do opening and I do cross and closing. All of these roles are important, so we all work to know our roles really well.”
Going into the Jan. 13 competition, the team was nervous but they still tried to go in believing they could win according to Raj.
“We’re a good team, but also we knew this team won a lot last year, so we were kind of scared. Francis Howell was the state champion for Mock Trial last year,” Raj said.
Although the students had doubts, the team’s coaches fully believed in their team, according to Principal Angie Pappas-Muyco, who is one of the team’s coaches.
“I truly believed they could win. They work really hard, are super dedicated, and continue to show up and fight every time,” Pappas-Muyco said.
Mock Trial is somewhat new to South because this is only the second year the team has been together. Despite being a new team, they had a decent start last year according to Rana.
“At Regionals we did really well for a first-time team last year. None of us had ever stepped foot in a courtroom before that competition, so we did really well considering we didn’t really know how to respond to objections or make objections,” she said. “We were just really good at thinking on our feet last year.”
Mock Trial gives a unique experience for students to be able to take a test ride of a career that they’re interested in, according to sophomore Abi Kumar
“I joined Mock Trial because I am interested in the field of law, and I wanted to get to know more about how being a lawyer works along with how a courtroom works,” Kumar said.
The team has multiple coaches who have experience with both mock and real trials.
“I competed in Mock Trial as a high school student, and I learned a lot from that experience,” Pappas-Muyco said.
Pappas-Muyco is not the team’s only coach. The team also has two attorney coaches. One of these coaches is Mitch Stevens Sr. who is a retired federal judge. He is also the father of South social studies teacher Mitch Stevens. The team’s attorneys are also led by Keith Cheung who is currently a practicing attorney in Manchester.
Mock Trial can be appealing to students interested in law, because it provides a way to start making connections with people in the legal field, according Anand.
“[Mock trial] is a really good opportunity for networking when you go to competitions because you’re competing in front of jury members who are actual attorneys,” Anand said. “I know some people who have gotten business cards from attorneys because they were impressed by our team.”
Raj said Mock Trial competitions aim to be as realistic as possible.
“The judge is an actual judge, and then the jury is three real lawyers,” Raj said. “Everything we do is to try and run the trial like the real thing.”
Wanting law experience is not the only reason students choose to be part of Mock Trial. Some students also enjoy the social and team aspect, according to Kumar.
“One of my favorite things about mock trial is the team environment; it’s really positive and everyone there is fun to hang around with,” he said.
Mock Trial can give students the opportunity to learn more than just law. Skills used in Mock Trial can help students be more successful in life according to Pappas-Muyco.
“Reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills are used and improved with Mock Trial,” Pappas-Muyco said. “I think all of these skills can also help students do well in the classroom.”
The competition against Francis Howell was just the start of their season, and the team recently beat Cardinal Ritter at a competition 3-0 on Feb. 13. The team is looking forward to regionals March 4-6 and hopefully state over the next couple of weeks according to Rana.
“I think this is gonna be a really good year and I believe we can make it to state,” Rana said.
