The Kingswood Oxford Mock Trial team has had a fulfilling season filled with thrilling competition.
Throughout the season, they’ve focused on the 85-page fictional case of Dillon Hopyard—more specifically: “Did Emerson Harkness hire someone to kill Dillon Hopyard?” They began competing in December, analyzing the case, figuring out certain facts about the case, and ultimately winning and advancing to the next round of the Connecticut High School Mock Trial competition. They then competed in a tough trial in early February at the New Britain Courthouse against Hall High School and Conard High School.
The KO Mock Trial team is under great leadership in addition to their student captains who work hard to ensure students develop key skills to be successful in trials. English teacher Rachel Heffner-Burns, one of the co-advisors of the team, noted the student process during their meetings in preparation for trials. “They read and annotate and then discuss and debate what they find is really essential,” she said. “So they draft these questions and responses and work in pairs, ultimately collaborating to be able to form a memorized response off the book.”
Though the Wyverns were not able to win this grueling competition, there were some highlights to recap. Junior Captain Ishaan Bafna, who was on the side of the defense, competed against Conard and went through the process of calling up witnesses, going through an examination, and working to ultimately pick out any and all weaknesses possible to win the case. One of the highlights for Ishaan was serving as a captain of the Mock Trial team. “It is my job to lead on strategy,” Ishaan said. “So for example, being on the defense, we want to highlight key facts and points in order to win our case. As captain, I make sure everyone is aware of that and feels good going into competition.”
With the season ending sooner than they had anticipated, the KO Mock Trial team has something major to look forward to: having a young team. With very few graduating seniors and many juniors in leadership positions, the team is in very good hands. “Next year will be a lot better for us competitively because we have a lot more people with experience, people who have been in trial before,” Ishaan said. “But even so, we try to do as much preparation as possible.” The team has done a wonderful job laying a solid foundation for competition next year.
Mock Trial is a wonderful opportunity for KO students to get a taste of legal action while being in high school. It is led by a wonderful team and will be coming back stronger for next season’s trials.
