Mock trial camp teaches middle school students presentation skills, teamwork

BALTIMORE -- Forty Carroll County, Maryland, students, ranging from sixth to ninth graders, spent 10 hours across two days this month preparing to defend or prosecute a fictional legal case based on a distracted driving charge.

The inaugural free mock trial camp for middle schoolers at the Exploration Commons library branch culminated in a trial at Westminster’s historic courthouse. Although the case was a simulation, Judge Brian DeLeonardo volunteered to preside over the courtroom and advise, and the case was treated with all the seriousness of a real trial.

Mock trial camp is the result of a partnership between Carroll County Public Schools and the Carroll County Public Libraries. The camp’s 40 spots and 50-student waiting list quickly filled, which indicates a high level of demand for the summer program, said Lisa Picker, director of communications for the library system.

“We wanted to introduce middle schoolers to what mock trial is before they got to high school,” Picker said, “to give them that introduction to the process, what the activity is, and to the possibilities for future academic extracurricular activities.”

The summer camp is set up to mirror the high school extracurricular mock trial competition and designed to hone presentation skills, build teamwork and instill attention to detail skills in students.

The participants were divided into four teams of 10, with half of each team preparing to prosecute and the others preparing to defend the case in court. While some students assumed the role of attorney, others were tasked with portraying characters testifying in the case, including the driver, passenger and responding police officer.

Each witness was questioned by an attorney from their team and cross-examined by an attorney from the opposing team. One attorney from each team made opening and closing remarks before the court performance was scored by judges.

Students were scored on a scale of one to 10 during opening statements, witness examination and closing arguments – the same scoring format used for high school students. Students portraying lawyers were scored on presentation, skill in argument, case theory, questions asked and knowledge of the law. Students playing witnesses were scored on their presentation and persona.

Lacking concrete evidence, the details of the case came down to testimonies and timelines onto which each team helped establish or cast doubt. Participants had to stick to information presented in affidavits in the scenario but were allowed to embellish when answering.

Mock trial cases are purposely written with ambiguity so either team can win.

Nine high school students who participate in mock trial volunteered to be coaches for the campers. Mock trial camp coach Elise-Kate Auckerman said she would have loved to participate in the camp as a middle schooler.

“I’m just trying to do it how like my attorney coach did for me but also trying to simplify things a little bit more.” said Auckerman, 16, a Westminster High School rising senior.

The case chosen for the camp was on cellphone use and distracted driving, issues that middle schoolers find relatable and relevant, said Supervisor of Secondary Social Studies Ryan Melhorn. Most mock trial cases are written for high school and college students, so choosing the best case for the two-day camp was a challenge. High school mock trial teams have eight weeks to prepare for a case before it is tried.

“It’s definitely more simplified,” Auckerman said of the camp for middle schoolers, “but it’s still like a big undertaking for them.”

The mock trial veteran wasted no time in teaching her team to play down information that works against their side of the case and stick primarily to the content of affidavits in the case book.

The group joked about the law and bonded with each other while remaining productive.

Shiloh Middle School rising seventh grader Sophia Brown, 12, of Hampstead, said it is interesting to see discrepancies in different accounts of events.

“We’re learning how to do the different perspectives in the story,” Brown said.

North Carroll Middle School rising seventh grader Penelope Davis, 12, of Manchester, said the mock trial process is intriguing, even if the case seemed overwhelming at first.

Mount Airy Middle School rising seventh grader Jake Walker, 12, of Westminster, said he knows from previous experience that confidence is key in the courtroom. Walker was part of the fifth-grade trial of an individual who lost his phone in a panda enclosure while skateboarding at the zoo.

“Maybe we could claim that a witness for the plaintiff isn’t remembering details,” Walker suggested to his team.

“They’re picking everything up very fast, and picking up the types of questions that you should ask and things like connecting details,” Auckerman said. “That’s a cool thing, just being more critical when reading these cases and finding what you should pick at and what you shouldn’t pick at, how you should phrase things, and court formalities.”

Zachary Barnes, the nephew of Carroll County Public Libraries Executive Director Andrea Berstler, also volunteered as a coach. Barnes, a rising sophomore at Patrick Henry University, joined mock trial during his final year of home schooling in Indiana and now plans to study constitutional law. He said he wishes he had discovered mock trial earlier, the way these middle schoolers had.

“It’s really exciting for me, doing [mock trial] in college, to see all the young middle school and high school kids doing it and getting exposed to it,” Barnes said.

When Berstler learned about mock trial through her nephew, she approached the public school system about holding a camp. Picker said hosting an event that stimulates students’ minds during the summer fits perfectly with the library system’s mission.

Melhorn said the school system was thrilled to participate in the partnership. Information about the camp was disbursed to families through the schools communications office and fliers at libraries.

Melhorn said he hopes campers will join mock trial when they enter high school.

“I don’t think the skills are any different from like what our high school students would deal with,” Melhorn said. “They’re working on close reading skills because you have to read the whole case and all the witness statements. They’re building their critical thinking skills as they’re looking at how maybe some of those witness statements might contradict one another or align. And they’ll really start to work on public speaking skills when they are thinking on their feet. You see a lot of collaboration, teamwork and communication.”

Mock trial camp will return next summer, Picker said.

Considering how well-attended this year’s camp was, Melhorn said the camp likely will grow in 2024.