PNH Mock Trial Team Competes at State

Parkway North’s mock trial team made it to the state competition which was held at the Thomas F. Eagleton Courthouse last weekend in downtown St. Louis, on March 31-April 2. North’s ‘All-Star team’ came in fifth place after valiant effort and preparation.

“We run our stuff over and over again. We have lots of Starbucks meetings. Lots of late night phone calls with other members of mock trial,” said senior Anna Rickard. Mock Trial is an extracurricular activity offered at North which provides students the opportunity to closely examine hypothetical cases and place them in a courtroom, giving insight and practice related to process lawyers.

“Students play the role of lawyers and witnesses. This means we need to have both our presentations and cross-examinations that we’re going to do with the other team prepared ahead of time. So, it’s a work on performance and crafting what we think would be an effective message to the jury,” said Scott Nilsen, social studies teacher and mock trial coach. This year, the case is about the fictional murder of a world class racquetball player, and no one knows whether the racquetball player’s agent or main rival on the court is the guilty party.

“Our first two rounds were both pretty solid. They went really well for us. We won both of them, and, then, we got to our third. Our third trial was really rough,” said sophomore Connor Huthsing. “It was just unfortunate the way it happened. They were a hard team to go up against.” Parkway North’s mock trial team went up against Pembroke Hill, Francis Howell North, and Marquette high school over the course of last weekend’s competition.

“There’s a higher level of competition at state, and it happens a lot faster,” said Nilsen. The team is given a month between the first and second preliminary rounds, but, for the state competition, there are five rounds in just three days.

“You know that the other team’s going to be good, and you know that you have to prepare and try your absolute hardest before you go into every round,” said Huthsing. Huthsing explained that, in preparation for the third round, the teams were not informed about which side they would be on which made the round even more nerve-racking.

“[Mock trial] is about coming up with good answers based on the stuff you’ve prepared, but you didn’t exactly know how it was going to come about,” Nilsen said. North’s mock trial team competes against other schools and has become one of the top teams in the area.

“It’s a lot of fun. I want to go into law, so it’s good preparation for stuff I want to do in the future,” said Rickard. The mock trial team at North is open to all PNH students.   

“[Even] if you’re not interested in law, there’s still a huge amount that you can get out of it just by quick thinking, creativity, and performance under pressure,” said Nilsen. There’s a lot the mock trial team offers to students, and it’s different for everyone.

“Mock trial for me has been about building my confidence and bettering my public speaking. That was a big goal for me when I joined. I feel like it’s really gotten better, and I feel like it’s only going to continue to get better,” said Huthsing.

by Sophia Strathman, staff writer