The Baldwin mock trial defense team defeated Our Lady of Sacred Heart last month, and the plaintiff team lost when they faced Pittsburgh CAPA.
Because both teams did not win, Baldwin did not advance in the competition. But team members said it was a rewarding experience.
The case focused on a fictional medical malpractice scenario in which a mother sued a doctor over the negligence of her sick daughter. For mock trial competitions, the plaintiff and the defense teams are given the same cases and go up against the opposing teams from other schools.
Mock trial Coach Kathleen Deemer said students put a lot of preparation into the trial. Even though this was the first time these students worked together on a trial, they were still able to perform as a team, Deemer said.
“We practiced starting in December every day during both Highlander times,” she said. “So we practiced for an hour every day from December through February.”
Scoring in the mock trial covers several areas. Preparation is key, as each side needs to go through all the documents in the case and prepare questions for the witnesses.
“It was a total team effort. They all came together as a team and were able to be successful because of their ability to help each other out and to work together as a team,” Deemer said.
Another important factor is that participants need to watch their posture and body language to keep their composure.
“You’re scored on basically how you act,” senior Katherine Gruendler, who participated on the plaintiff side, said. “So if you act like you’re not nervous, you’re going to do better, no matter what you say.”
Senior Violet Kearney, a member of the plaintiff side, said that preparation was key.
“My biggest takeaway from this is just ‘prepare and practice.’ Like everything you do in life, you just start preparing, start practicing.”
Junior Logan Bresinger, who is a part of the defense team, continually practiced his closing statement throughout the day of the trial to make it precise.
“One thing I got from it was definitely working under pressure and maintaining my composure,” he said.
Gruendler said the experience was rewarding.
“Overall, it was our first time ever doing this, and it’s the first time our school has done this in a while. That was a lot of pressure going into it, so I think we did really well at handling that,“ Gruendler said.
In each trial, participants who stood out were recognized for their work. For Baldwin’s plaintiff trial, Cheyanne Trout won best attorney and Jackson Presto won best witness. From the defense trial, Jackson Presto won best attorney and Annjal Parajuli won best witness.
While the Baldwin teams did not move on in the competition, Deemer is pleased with how they did this year.
“I was very proud of how hard the students worked and how much they learned in the performance,” she said.
