Academic clubs are considered among the best extracurriculars to put on your resume and one that stands out the most is Mock Trial. Santa Rosa Academy has recently established this club as a part of the Riverside County League, making 23-24 the first school year with an official SRA Mock Trial team.
But what exactly is Mock Trial?
Mock Trial is a weekly after-school club where each member is assigned a role in a trial simulation that will eventually be held in real courthouses. While some cases may be fictional, they are based on true crimes. Each case brief is approved and provided by Teach Democracy and all school teams are expected to assign each member a role for both the prosecution and defense. Usually, the club leaders play the role of an attorney and the less experienced members start in a simpler role, such as a witness. With enough experience and skill, a witness could quickly become an attorney the following season.
Not only is Mock Trial a great activity to flaunt to colleges and universities but it is also a great way to practice public speaking and communication skills. Members have the opportunity to meet people from other teams in the county, such as Heritage High School and Paloma Valley High School’s team. These are friendly competitions, and I had a great experience this season when it came to interacting with students from rival schools.
Mock Trial member and varsity volleyball player Zachary Chebat claims, “I’m really excited for next year, this season was very fun and it was a great learning experience.”
This year’s team advisor is high school history teacher Jack Warlof and the team consists of a minimum number of eight members. The season began in the second semester and anyone interested can sign up as early as the beginning of the first semester.
There are only three to four roles, and not everybody may participate in every competition. Those that do not initially participate serve as backups and attend to support the team. If the team does well enough, the team has the chance to make it to the final eight, where the best schools have a chance to compete in both the regional, state and even the national Mock Trial competitions.
Anyone interested can sign up as early as today by reaching out to Gabrielle Focht, [email protected], or Jack Warlof, [email protected]. Sign-ups will also occur in August when the new school year begins.
The attorneys at Mock Trial hope to see you join the team for next season’s competitions!
