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MSBABlogs www.mnbar.org/blogs Why I Volunteer as a High School Mock Trial Coach By Mark Vandelist It is fall again in Minnesota. I know that not because the leaves are turning or the weather is getting colder, but because High School Mock Trial is starting again. It is at this time of year that I continually ask myself, why am I doing this? Why did I once again volunteer to teach/coach twice a week for two hours on Tuesday and Thursday nights? Why did I agree to get up at 7 a.m. on multiple Saturdays to go sit in cramped, smelly high school classrooms for tournaments? What form of DSM IV mental illness do I have that makes me do this every year for the last couple of decades? But then try-outs come along. (Try-outs for our team are really a fallacy. Everyone who comes to try-outs makes a team. We decided several years ago that everyone is welcome and as a consequence we have 47 kids and 4 mock trial teams.) So two weeks ago, on a cold Tuesday night, I had just finished a particularly difficult court calendar with 50+ criminal cases on it, and I had to rush to the high school for “try-outs.” This year the kids were told to think of three moments in their lives that made them the person they were today, and talk about it, without notes, for five minutes or less. I thought, “Oh, great, what life experience does a 16-year-old suburban kid have that can be in any way interesting, compared to the stuff I see in court everyday”? I picked up a Little Caesar’s pizza on my way and settled into a small, tight, sticky high school desk to suffer through these speeches. And for the next twoand-a-half hours I was mesmerized and humbled by what High School Mock Trial means to these kids. The first young lady told a story of moving here from Canada as her first 2015 National Mock Trial Championship major life event. Then meeting a new group of girls in 7th grade who she thought were her friends, but ended up bullying her to the point where she would come home from school with bruises up and down her arms. But she thought it was okay, because they told her they were her friends. Then in 9th grade she “auditioned” for mock trial. She was a timid girl who I remember barely being able to hear because she spoke so softly and would not even look at you during her audition. She made the team. When she was told she made the team, she was thrilled with her success. She met a whole new group of kids, became part of a team, which is more like a family, and the course of her life completely changed. She is now a 12th grader, and those “mean girls” have either dropped out of school or are at the alternative learning center. This young woman is applying to colleges, and last year won individual awards for best witness and best attorney at several Mock Trial tournaments. The next young man who came in told us of a tragic event that changed the course of his family’s lives and his own. After this event, all he did was sit in the basement and play video games and eat snack food. He was clearly clinically depressed due to what had occurred. He became overweight. When he got to high school, his mom told him he had to try out for three extracurricular activities or he would be grounded. So he went to the activity fair and somehow gravitated to the Mock Trial table. He too tried out and made the team. The teammates he met that year in Mock Trial became his closest friends. They brought him out of his depressed state, they accepted him for who he was, and to this day they are his best friends. He has gone on to be one of the top five kids in his class academically, and went to the state tournament with his Mock Trial team last year. Every 10 minutes, a different kid would come into the room to tell of his/her three life-changing events. And every single kid who had been in Mock Trial for at least a year would invariably say in some fashion, “Mock Trial changed my life.” So that is why I do what I do. That is why I give up four to six hours of my precious free time every week and get up on Saturday mornings to drive to god knows where for a tournament: because I make a difference in these kids’ lives. Mock Trial makes a difference in these kids’ lives. It’s not about the winning or the losing; it is a matter of watching these kids go from 15-year-old 9th graders to 18-year-old 12th graders and seeing the transformation from shy introverts to killer trial attorneys. And by March, I am sad to see the season end. s About the author: The Honorable Mark Vandelist is a district court judge in Minnesota’s 1st Judicial District. This post is excerpted from the MSBA’s Voices blog. Visit www.mnbar.org/blogs to read more or to submit a post. 4 Bench&Bar of Minnesota s December 2015 www.mnbar.org
Official publication of the Minnesota State Bar Association www.mnbar.org Editor Steve Perry Design & Production Jennifer Pickles Advertising Sales Pierre Production & Promotions, Inc. (763) 497-1778 MSBA Officers President Michael W. Unger President-elect Robin M. Wolpert Treasurer Sonia Miller-Van Oort Secretary Paul W. Godfrey Executive Director Tim Groshens Publications Committee Chairperson Holly A. Fistler Steven P. Aggergaard Emily K. Cooper June Hoidal Carol K. Lee Henry D. Long Christopher D. Stall Malcolm P.W. Whynott Jonathan D. Wilson © 2015 Minnesota State Bar Association Bench & Bar of Minnesota (ISSN 0276-1505) is an official publicaton of the Minnesota State Bar Association. Neither the association nor the editors assume responsibility for statements or expressions of opinions by contributors. n Periodicals class postage paid at Minneapolis, Minnesota and additional mailing offices. Published 11 months of the year. May/June combined. Minnesota State Bar Association, 600 Nicollet Mall, #380, Minneapolis, MN 55402, (612) 333-1183, www.mnbar.org. Subscription price: $25.00 for members which is included in dues. Nonmembers $35.00 per year. Some back issues available at $5.00 each. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Bench & Bar, 600 Nicollet Mall, #380, Minneapolis, MN 55402. Editorial Policy. The opinions expressed in Bench & Bar are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect association policy or editorial concurrence. Publication of advertisements does not constitute an endorsement. The editors reserve the right to accept or reject prospective advertisements in accordance with their editorial judgment. www.bensonpc.com | 952.466.7574 Contingent fee arrangements and lawyer-advanced case costs available. Accepting referrals and requests for co-counsel. 3800 American Boulevard West, Suite 1500, Bloomington, MN 55431 www.mnbar.org December 2015 s Bench&Bar of Minnesota 5
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