BY KYRA KINZLER
Staff Writer

A freshman at Kalmia University is dead, the victim of a fatal fall that occurred while she was participating in a sorority pledge. Her friend is accused of contributing to her death.
This case sounds similar to incidents people might hear on the news or as headlines in the newspaper. However, this case was fictional and used by the students who participated in mock trial this year.
Mock trial is an activity for students who engage in arguing a fictional trial. The students prepare weeks in advance to go in front of a panel that consists of lawyers and paralegals. Baldwin had both prosecution and defense teams in this year’s competition.
The prosecution competed against Thomas Jefferson High School, and the defense competed against CAPA School. Both sides lost to their competitors, but participants said it was a worthy event.
Senior Mark Demore participated on both the prosecution and defense as a lawyer. He has previously participated on the mock trial team his sophomore year as a witness.
“It was interesting being a lawyer for each side. I got to perform my job better by seeing the different aspects of the prosecution and defense,” Demore said.
“Even though we lost, since we had a small group this year, it was easier to focus on parts of our case that we needed help on,” Demore said.
In addition to the team consisting of lawyers, there were students who played witnesses to make the trial as real as possible.
Sophomore Jaycee Revo had two roles to memorize for mock trial. She played a witness for both the defense and prosecution.
“It was an overall fun experience and it was great to be a part of it. I plan on partaking in mock trial again next year. I am really interested in law and it was fun and educational to oversee how a trial works,” Revo said.
Social studies teacher Kelly O’Brien has been sponsor of in the club for the past two years.
“We had Sunday practices that helped the students prepare for the trial, and a judge came in and helped with the law aspects of trails,” O’Brien said.
The mock trial team shared many experiences and memories in preparation for the trial.
“It was very fulfilling and exciting seeing the students improve so much over the weeks. My favorite memory was just watching them make arguments and objectives. It was overall really great,” O’Brien said.