On Saturday, January 6th, Eagan High School’s two mock trial teams, competed in the Minneapple tournament against several schools at Apple Valley High School.

Mock Trial is a competition where the team members take on a role and argue before a judge as if they were conducting a real trial. It is a combination of speech, theater and debate. Each team is given a legal situation that they dissect and analyze, to present their argument to a judge. It is split into rounds, with each round lasting around two hours each. All teams compete in two rounds, and may advance further.

Senior Miriam Lebowitz, a captain and lawyer in mock trial explains “being on the team means being spontaneous and always on your toes. You have to be energetic, dramatic, and ready for anything.”Along with with having high energy, you also have to be on top of your game when presenting, to be ready for whatever the competition throws at you. “Sometimes we didn’t agree with the way things went or how the judge ruled, so we have to practice our reactions to things in the moment. Especially when they’re not what you expect or agree with,” Lebowitz proclaims.

Senior Emily Josephson, A double witness on the team identifies the most difficult part of mock trial as being able to keep your cool under pressure, and knowing how to answer questions on the spot, as mock trial can often be surprising and unpredictable.Although mock trial can be challenging at times, it’s challenges are a great learning experience for students. Lebowitz admits “some things mock trial has taught me are, spontaneity, flexibility, and speaking skills especially. It has also helped me gain a lot of confidence.” Ms.Hanson, head coach for Eagan’s team expressed that her favorite part of tournaments is “watching people that are scared to do public speaking thrive at it.”

The team’s hard work really paid off as the green, or varsity team won 2-1 and placed 8th out of 36 teams. The blue, or junior varsity team scored 1-1. They had the regions competition the following Tuesday, January 9th. The green team won and will be advancing to their upcoming competition next week, where teams will be competing in the second round for regions.

At the rate they’re going, no one could argue that Eagan’s mock trial team isn’t on it’s way to success.