On Friday and Saturday, Feb. 21-22, Mock Trial club suited up and headed to the Larimer County Justice Center to compete in the Northern Colorado Regional Mock Trial Competition.
Students spent over three months preparing for this particular case, starting in November. Lillie Parker, a local attorney, and one of the team’s coaches, explained, “We changed up our format … this year … and did two practices a week. I feel like all of our team members were very dedicated and worked hard to be ready to compete.”
Due to the large club size — 18 students — it was necessary to split the club up into two teams. “It was a pleasant surprise that both teams made it to state,” Parker said. “We’re very excited to be heading there in a couple weeks.”
Students learn and grow throughout the season. Parker’s favorite part of the journey is “being able to watch you grow from maybe not knowing anything at the beginning of the season to being able to put on a full criminal case in a very impressive manner.”
Having actual attorneys and judges help students prepare proves to be extremely useful. “Having this group of attorneys, help with the legal advice and being able to kind of help craft things and kind of shape some stuff” has proven useful according to Kyle Stapleton (staff), the club’s staff sponsor.
There were many traits that made Windsor’s teams stand out. “The students that we have were oftentimes better able to think on their feet, to kind of be able to analyze the situation and kind of be able to respond,” Stapleton said. “The fun thing about the competition is during practice we always kind of notice exactly what is going to be said …. but then when you go against different teams, they throw you for a loop, and you have to adapt.”
While the club had more than 12 people, the usual number of people needed for a team, there weren’t enough people for two full teams. Due to this, some people had to fill multiple roles.
Adeline Freytag (11) played the role of two expert witnesses. “Having to switch between characters was really difficult,” Freytag said. “I would do a quizlet made by Tess Cooper regarding the characters that we both played.”
This is the first time in almost 20 years that Windsor has sent a Mock Trial team to state, though Mock Trial was not offered for some of those years. “It’s so exciting. I’ve been with the Windsor Mock Trial team since we started the team back up in 2017, and to have it be where both of our teams make it this year is pretty cool,” Parker said.
