Mock Trial Mentality: What Mock Trial Members Do During Recess

By Caydenn Angeles
W.B. Ray Delegation

While walking in the hallways of Akins High School for the District 2 & 7 Conference, a group of students were seated in the hallway with paper and folders sprawled out everywhere. Confronting them, students Sebastian Oviedo, Aashna Kosher, Yuktha Gobburu, Catherine Willard, and Dhiya Sundar from both Cedar Park High School and Leander High School clarified that they were in a recess period.

For this District Conference, there are not enough judges available to conduct four mock trials, requiring each school to only achieve three. Because of this, each school is granted recess, which allows for the mock trial members to have a one-hour period of time to do whatever they prefer. I assumed that most members in Youth and Government would spend their time calming down from a suspenseful event, eating lunch, or having a talk with familiar friends, but these mock trial members proved me otherwise. “This is our first meeting, so we’re really nervous,” Kosher stated, “but working together in our mock trials has been more fun than scary.” In preparation for this conference, Kosher explained to me that their mixed mock trial team attended online meetings with each other once a week and in-person meetings every two weeks. 

Though, despite their consistent preparation, it still seemed like they were continuing to study for their upcoming trial. This surprised me, as I assumed they would have been confident in their abilities by now. “Going over the rules of evidence and the trial case itself is important to have our team succeed,” Yuktha Gobburu emphasized. Adding on to this, Catherine Willard expressed, “Reviewing our previous trials is really important for our next mock trial. That’s what we’re doing right now. It helps to see how other trial courts make arguments because we are able to predict and prepare for similar arguments coming up.” 

As a media journalist for this conference, it was surprising to see how members of different events spent their time. Each event has specific requirements in order to succeed, and this was demonstrated through my interview with this group of mock trial students. Realizing the dedication each member of Youth and Government has toward their event was and still is motivating to my overall perspective of the organization itself.