The mock trial team has emerged a staple of fourth period announcements for the last few years, placing at a high level very consistently. However, despite the team’s well known successes, many students don’t understand what it even involves. 

“You either act as a lawyer or a witness, so we basically do courtroom cosplay,” sophomore David Warner said. “We go to the courthouse but this year it’s probably going to be virtual.”

Mock trial is a valuable activity for building resumes and life skills alike, as former team member and current coach Grace Plahitko describes. 

“It definitely helped communication skills and the ability to lead a team,” Plahitko said. “It also taught me flexibility and how to think on my feet since stuff with the team in high school is always changing, and I had to come up with questions and comments on the spot in competitions, which has all improved my communication in everyday life.”

Notably, this year’s circumstances have certainly been difficult for Roncalli’s extracurricular programs. Sports have obviously been the most affected, but moving forward into a new wave of restrictions, the mock trial team has been persevering. 

“It’s kind of hard because right now nobody knows what’s going to happen with the online competitions,” Plahitko said.

Online school is difficult enough, but the intense head to head competition of mock trial seems even more difficult to translate. This will certainly be a difficult season for the team, they say.

“We have a lot of inexperienced people and the competition is supposed to be online,” team captain Grace Vavra said. “However, we do have a lot of great potential and hard working competitors here.” 

The team holds high expectations for itself this year, and it retained the ability level and the same talent to back that up from its past years of success.

“I would say that our returning people really know what they’re doing, and I expect both teams to get to state since we started off a lot faster than we used to,” Plahitko said. 

No matter how the circumstances of this season turn out, the mock trial team is dedicated to success and will continue to represent the school like it always has.