By Glenn Battishill/The Delaware Gazette
On Jan. 30, students from several Delaware County high schools braved the plunging temperatures and gathered at the Hayes Building in Delaware for the annual Ohio High School Mock Trial Competition.
The competition included teams from Buckeye Valley High School, Olentangy High School, Olentangy Berlin High School, Olentangy Liberty High School, Columbus Academy and Reynoldsburg High School. The team from Delaware Hayes High School was scheduled to appear but was unable to attend due to weather.
During the competition, students play attorneys and argue both sides of a fictional case. Fifth District Court of Appeals Judge David M. Gormley is the local coordinator for the competition and said this year’s fictional case focused on the use of genetic genealogy evidence – from a company like Ancestry or 23andMe – to find a suspect who may have committed a long-unsolved murder.
“The case will push the students to think about and learn about privacy, consent, forensic science and the Fourth Amendment,” Gormley said.
Gormley added he had “a bit of a panic” the night before the competition after the cold weather cancelled school for many participants, which required him to reconfigure the competition for the smaller number of teams.
“So one school had to split and play both teams in the morning,” he said. “That was a little challenging, but we got through it. I’m thrilled as many of the schools could come that planned to come, despite the schools themselves actually being closed. That certainly speaks well to the commitment of the advisors and bus drivers and … everyone who made this happen. That’s great.”
Gormley said on top of legal experience, participants also learned a life lesson about unforeseen circumstances.
“Learning to be flexible and to adapt to unexpected circumstances is something that’s useful, no matter what job you do,” he said. “I feel like they’ve been able to adapt just fine. It’s a good life lesson.”
Gormley said on Jan. 30 that the team from BV, a team from Columbus Academy, the team from Olentangy High School and both teams from Worthington-Kilbourne High School would be heading to the regional competition on Feb. 20.
BV freshman Amelia Greasamar, who played a witness in the morning case, said it was her first experience with mock trial and she was very nervous during the competition.
“I get easily freaked out,” Greasamar joked. “When I’m fueled by adrenaline, it’s never a good thing. Once I got on the stand, it was fun, but every minute leading up to it was terrifying.”
Greasamar said she participated because she has several family members involved in law enforcement and she wants to pursue a legal career. She said she enjoyed the competition overall and is looking forward to participating again next year.
BV senior Athena Christensen, who was the opening attorney during the morning competition, said she thinks their team did very well, especially Greasamar.
“We had good objections on our side,” Christensen said. “I think our witnesses were very strong. Amelia got tricky questions to make her look bad, and she came up with such quick responses. We had good reasoning behind some of our objections as well.”
Christensen said this was her first year of doing mock trial and she regrets not doing it earlier in her high school career.
“… I never really put myself out there to do it, (but) I’m really glad I did,” Christensen said. “I really wish I did this my past years.”
Christensen said she plans to pursue a career as a forensic social worker and said since they work in courtrooms, mock trial is a valuable starting experience.
Fellow BV senior Benjamin Bernard, who also played an attorney during the morning trial, said he felt it went “pretty well.”
“I thought that our objections were good,” Bernard said. “We memorized everything so we were able to present really well.”
Bernard said he “loves mock trial” and said it has helped him improve his public speaking skills, despite his nerves.
“It gives me a lot of adrenaline and it’s very nerve-wracking, but it makes me better at public speaking,” Bernard said. “In the moment, it’s scary and nerve-wracking but once I get through it, I look back and I’m really glad I did it and it was a really positive experience. (I plan to study) computer science but it still helped to be able to speak in front of people and not get drowned in nervous. At the beginning I was stressing out, but by the end, I was calmer and more connected.”
Top teams at the regional finals will advance to the state finals to be held March 12-15 in Columbus.
Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903.