This year we welcomed the return of Mock Trial to Heritage High School. It has been five years since we last had a team compete. All of the people who joined had never tried to do anything like it. The club was started from the whim of Ms. Taylor Lutgen and senior Vivian Lee. Ms. Lutgen was on the team when she went to Heritage. “I was an alum, and I knew how fun it was. I knew the type of kids that are in Mock Trial; they really thrive in it, and it’s a place for kids to build good friendships. If you want to be an attorney, it is a really good start,” Ms. Lutgen said. “I know three alumni who went to law school. I’m not sure if they’re all practicing, but one of them was my sister, and she is practicing.”
One of the students, Lee, explained , “Last year, me and my friend wanted to start a debate club. So we were like, Ms. Lutgen, someone told us to talk to you about starting a debate club. She said, let’s do Mock Trial.”
Many of the students had different reasons for joining Mock Trial. Lyla Kirby, a current senior, joined because of friends, “Honestly, I was just kind of interested in it, but I wasn’t gonna do it alone. Then I found out Bailey [Wiggins] was joining, and then Lee and Jenna [Carroll] were joining. So I was like, the whole party’s here, might as well just go,” she stated. Whereas Addie Hines, a current junior, joined for a chance at finding her future career, “I’ve looked into going into law for my future career, so I thought it was a good thing to try.”
The proceedings went quite smoothly for those who did it for the first time. The team came in second to last out of at least 10 teams. Ariela Pezic, a current sophomore, said, “It was a lot of fun. There were some really good groups there. We didn’t win, but we didn’t come dead last.”
Even though the team came in ninth overall, the experience was new and thrilling for all of these students. Ms. Lutgen hopes that many of the students who did mock trial this year will join again next year.
