State Mock Trial Competition

So the State Mock Trial competition has come and gone. It was an amazing experience, and I don't think I'll ever be able to forget the feeling.

That is, the feeling of walking into the building with only four and a half hours of sleep and bacon laying on my stomach and feeling like I was about to puke.
Or the feeling of going against a tough team and a cranky judge.
Or the feeling of listening to "All I Do is Win" and "Baby" and "Tik Tok" and "Don't Stop Believing" at the reception.
Aahh, I'm getting far too ahead of myself. I need to back up a tad and explain the whole fantastic experience of the state competition.
So it all began on early Friday afternoon. We met at the church we usually meet at to load everyone and their luggage up in the vans and drive up to where state was being held. We drove up.... a long drive. And gosh darn it I was worn out. When we finally arrived at the hotel we would be staying at, all of us walked up to our rooms to chill out. We expected to be bored the whole afternoon, but our afternoon was far from dull. My roommates were supposed to be my buddies Rachel, Marina, and Molly, but Molly ended up switching out with another one of my friends, Holly. We spent some of the afternoon in our room talking and having a grand 'ol time. Then one of the parents of one of our attorneys on the team, Mrs. Ramona, came up and said she was driving to Target and told us if we wanted to, we could come along.
And let me tell you, going to Target with around a dozen unruly teenagers is about as delightful of a time as you can have. We played sardines and tried on hats and looked at cards and had the time of our lives. We stayed there for about 30-45 minutes, and then left to go to Chick-fil-a to eat supper before heading back to the hotel. I sat at a table with some of my favorite people: Steven, Josh, Daniel, Phillip, and Hance. After we finished eating, we loaded everyone back up into the vans and drove back to the hotel.
Once back at the hotel, we all piled into our coach's (Mr. Ricks) room to go over last minute things before the competition the next day. We collected and organized stipulations, team rosters, exhibits, witness statements, etc. After organizing all the documents, Courtney, Benji, Spencer, and Steven went over their openings and closings, which were marvelous (quite obviously). After completing that, all of the attorney/witness pairs teamed up and went through their directs one more time. After that was done, we were free to do whatever we wanted. Which for me, included making a hilarious video with Phillip and Daniel, drinking hot chocolate with Marina and Gabby downstairs, and hanging out with Rachel, Holly, and Marina until about 1 in the morning in our rooms. Yes. 1 in the morning. Let me tell you, we discovered when we woke up at 5:30 that it was not a good idea. But at the time, we were having too fantastic of a time to even notice.
Flash forward to 5:30. At 5:30, after getting a total of four and a half hours of sleep, an alarm going off is not exactly the top thing on your list that you want to hear. Holly and Rachel got up about 10 minutes before Marina and I did, and after that it was a race to get on makeup, fix our hair, change into our suits, eat breakfast, and tear out the door to the vans in the dark. About breakfast. I went downstairs with my AE sweat pants and a T-shirt still on, and I see all of these people in suits. Teams from all over the state. And then I ran into Molly, who was the only person downstairs who, like me, was wearing some good 'ol PJs. We completely appreciated the fact that we were the only people downstairs being fully awesome. Well, I got my breakfast which consisted of some fruit, a cup of yogurt, and a few pieces of bacon. Note to self - NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER eat bacon before a competition, no matter what. Well, I went back upstairs to eat breakfast, and got through the yogurt and two pieces of bacon. Then I raced to get ready, and then tore downstairs to be with the team.
Flash forward to about 7:30. We're standing in the parking lot. We're all hyped up. We're so excited. Our first time at state. Our very first. We're ready to go. We stood in the parking lot in a huge circle as we prayed before we went in. We walked into the building. We walked upstairs near to our rooms. We went ahead and entered the room where the defense would be competing in for the first round. But not 5 minutes after we had come in, another team came in, saying that was the room where they were competing too. Two or three of the guys looked to be about 10 years old, even though they had to be in high school. But I thought it was hilarious and figured the team would be a joke. Well, our team decided to go in the next room over, so we could have some time alone to prepare. Well, it was in that room that we discovered the team that would be going against our defense was the team that went to nationals last year, and was ranked in some of the top teams in the whole nation. ~gulp~ Imagine our nervousness. It was our first round, and we were going against one of the top teams in the nation!
Flash forward to 9:00. We're in our rooms. Our plantiff is prepared. I'm sitting there talking to Aaron, one of the witnesses for the plantiff. As we talked, the team we would be going against entered the room. Compared to the teams we saw at regionals, this team looked surprisingly professional. I assured myself this team would be no trouble at all.
Flash forward to 9:30. The jurors and judge finally, 30 minutes late, enter the room. The courtroom is called into order. We all act professional. We all sit up completely poised and prepared. Stomachs are churning a little. We begin. Courtney did her opening, which was phenomenal. Then the guy who would be crossing me stood up and gave his opening, which was surprisingly good. He sat down. I, being the first witness, stood up and went up to the witness stand. I was more nervous than usual.... not to mention the bacon I had eaten for breakfast wasn't helping much. The first couple of questions in my direct felt a little shaky because I was so nervous. But it got better. Well. Until the guy started objecting. He started objecting, and though they were good objections, some of them I didn't agree with. But apparently the judge hadn't gotten the proper amount of sugars in his coffee that morning because he seemed to be in a snappy, surly sort of mood. He was sustaining all the opposing council's most unfounded objections, and overruling the ones that were actually good and I thought should have been sustained. I was already somewhat ticked. Then my crossing attorney stood up, and let me tell you, he blew me away. I was amazed at how good he was. By far, he was the best crossing attorney I have had the whole year. He asked tough questions, and he was a feisty and full of pluck. I was very impressed. The judge was very cantankerous on cross, but I tried to stay calm and cool. As soon I was done, and I got down. I felt like I had just been crushed. The judge had sustained so many of the other team's objections, and my crossing attorney had been very difficult. Nonetheless, everyone told me I did well. The round continued, and things didn't get much better. The judge overruled about 99% of our objections, and sustained about 90% of their objections. And all of ours were good, and well founded. Most of theirs were good and well founded, but they really overused this one objection. I was getting frustrated. But finally, about the middle of the round, when their lead attorney was crossing our lead witness, Hayley, things got better. Automatically the judge seemed to be a fine & dandy mood, and he was being very fair, sustaining and overruling all the objections that should have been sustained or overruled. I was impressed. The rest of the round just got better. By the end, I felt like we had done a fantastic job.
After the round was over, we had a little bit of a recess, and then everyone came back into the room so the jurors would give us their thoughts/critique. They seemed relatively fair. And then, after they were done, we were done. Yes. No longer did I have to listen to an cantankerous judge. We had a quick meeting with our whole team, and I was delighted to hear our defense had actually done quite well against the marvelous team who had done so well in nationals last year.
Flash forward to around 11:45 or so. We went downstairs to eat some food our parents had fixed (see, that's the great thing about being on a homeschool team. All the moms are great cooks and they fix food for large crowds all the time anyway). I grabbed a tasty wrap and some grapes, and hung out with Marina for about 45 minutes. When we walked downstairs again, I realized everyone was gone. I freaked out, ran down the escalator in my high heels (which was difficult considering I had an awful blister), and tried to find out where we were supposed to be. I ran into my mom who told me which room to head off to, and I walked very quickly down to the room with Marina, and we were barely in time to get there. Thankfully the room was pretty busy and everyone was buzzing around, so no one really noticed that we were late in getting to the courtroom. I could already tell this team wouldn't be nearly as hard, and I was correct. I wasn't nearly as nervous, as my initial nerves were out, not to mention I knew the team wouldn't be as hard. The round went very smoothly, for the most part. The judge was fair (sometimes overly lenient, in my opinion), the other team was relatively good, and our team was better. You really can't get much better than that. I felt like everyone did fantastically.
After that round, we all got together and headed off to the reception. We hung out for about 30 minutes, until they finally started announcing awards and such. They listed off all the coaches and had them come up, and they did all the official clapping for all the people who put this stuff together who you really couldn't care less about, because honestly all you care about is hearing who is going to the semifinals the next day. Only four teams (out of about 18) go to the semifinals, and it's a huge deal if you go. If I recall correctly, they did the outstanding attorney awards first. I was so incredibly excited when they announced that my brother, Spencer, had won an award in both rounds, which only about 6 attorneys did, out of the at least 20 or 30 that they called out. Also, one of our other attorneys, Benji, won an award, which was fantastic. Unfortunately, none of our witnesses won an award, but we did get something very, very exciting. You see, they give out a professionalism award every year to one team who displays professionalism and good sportsmanship. I wasn't exactly expecting our team to get it, especially since our team is a first timer. But they announced the winner of the professionalism award was..... our team. Our team. Imagine the excitement! Out of 18 teams we had won it! We were very excited of course, and my bro went to go receive the award.

Then, it came time. The time. The time to announce whether we were going to semifinals or not. The first team was announced. It didn't surprise me. The second team was announced. It didn't surprise me. The third team was announced. It didn't surprise me. They were about to call out the last team. I had resigned myself to not winning. I had a gut feeling we wouldn't. They called out the last team. It wasn't us. I half felt like crying, but half felt so pleased, so satisfied, and so incredibly proud of our team I could bust. I gave our team members hugs, reminding them we were an awesome team, and we won the professionalism award, and we all did well. We were all somewhat disappointed, but we were all proud of ourselves. Proud we made it to state. Proud we did well. But mostly proud because we're a team. And we stick up for each other. And we encourage each other. And we're awesome whether we win or not. We're a team. And I'm proud of that.

But really a huge piece of excitement came today. We didn't know who had won the finals. One of the teams who had gone to finals was the team that our defense had gone against in the first round. We found out today they had won, and we were excited because we had been rooting for them. But the best piece of news is this team, the team who had ranked in some of the highest teams in the nation, contacted our attorney coach today and told us that first, they were disappointed we hadn't gone to semifinals because they had been rooting for us, and second, they said we were quite possibly the best team they went against in the whole weekend. Imagine that! I'm so proud of us. I'm proud of our team.
We rock.

To all the teams next year:
We Will Rock You

Mock Trial

Wow. I am pitifully behind in my blogging. I haven't blogged in nearly a month... this is quite pitiful. BUT. I do have a legitimate excuse. And that is - mock trial.
I think I have mentioned mock trial before, but I've never really gone into what it is. So in case you don't know, a very very brief explanation is it is a bunch of high schoolers doing a fake trial. In each state we have one "case" and everyone participating in mock trial in that particular state studies the case for about 3 months. Intensive work here. Each team has six attorneys (three for plaintiff and three for defense) and six witnesses (again, three for each side) plus two time keepers. So over the course of three months you study the case, and then in February you go to a regional competition. There are several regions in our state, but I think ours is one of the hardest regions. And I have reason to think this. Reason being, we go against a team every year who has won for 12 years in a row. 12 years. That's a long time. Every year they have gone to state. It's very intensive to go against them.But before I go on to the competition, let me explain what part I have on the team, and what all we do. So, I am a witness, and given, one of the lesser witnesses. But I have a fantastically fun part. I get to be a political activist. In a major way. In fact, I get to rap... which in my opinion is pretty awesome ^_^ On my team I have a couple of my friends, Hayley and Aaron, who are also witnesses. Aaron is another relatively important witness, and Hayley is the main witness. And then for attorneys we have my brother, Spencer, another one of my friends, Courtney, and my boyfriend, Daniel. Spencer is the lead attorney (I'm so stinkin proud of him =). He does the direct of Aaron, the cross of the lead witness on the defense side, and he does the closing. Courtney does the opening, and Daniel & Courtney both have crosses and directs.And so on to the competition. So this year, on the 5th, we had our competition. Our team ran on adrenaline all day. We had to get up there at 7:45, and our first round started about 9. Well. We went against the team that I have told you about in the first round... which really isn't a good thing for us or for them. But we went against them anyway. Our team felt very good about that round, and we pretty much knew for a fact at that point that we were going to go to the final round. The next round wasn't quite as good. In my opinion... well.... let's just say I didn't like the team that much.After the first two rounds, we had some suggestions from our attorney coach, Pete, and Spencer (my bro) gave us a speech like in the beginning of Patton, except a homeschooler friendly version. ;) Yeah, my brother is awesome like that. Anyway, after these two rounds, we go into this big room where all the teams get together, and we have an awards ceremony. In each round there is an outstanding witness award and an outstanding attorney award. I'm proud to say that two of our witnesses got one, Courtney got one, and another one of our attorneys, Steven, got two.
But then came the big deal. Who goes to the final round? You see, the final round is a huge, nerve wracking deal. It's when the two best teams out of the whole competition go against each other, and it is decided who goes to state. Well... it came time to say which teams were to go to the final round. And the coordinator for our region announced us and the team who has won for 12 years. Both teams were so excited... and we were ready.The final round, quite honestly, was when I was most nervous, and understandably too. What I did could have an effect on whether we won or not. My hands were clammy. I sat on the bench trying not to fidget. Finally, it came time to do the final round. And let me tell you, during the last round, we had some serious praying going on. I know many of the parents were praying, I was praying, and I heard several of our team members say they were praying. Not so much that we would win, but more that the evaluators and judge would be fair, that we would perform at our best, etc. I was the first witness and I went up on the stand, my hands still relatively clammy. I did my direct, which went pretty well. But even while I was talking, I was praying in my mind. I had my cross, and then I was done. I was down from the witness stand. And anything that I could do to help the team was done. It was a pretty big relief. The rest of the round went very well; better than I expected it to, actually. And finally, the closings were done, and the round was over. The evaluators went back to do the scoring, and then they came back about 15 or 20 minutes later to give comments. I listened closely for any signs that we won. We were all still nervous. We all wanted to know who won.
Then it finally came. Time for us to learn who had won. Our defense side came over into our court room, and we sat down. First the outstanding witness and attorney awards were given out. Now usually you can tell who won by which team gets the most awards. Well, you couldn't even tell from that. We had it split right down the middle - each team got one outstanding witness and one outstanding attorney award. Then it was time. We were about to hear who had won. The coordinator pulled out the piece of paper with the winning team name on it, and he said, "And the winner of this regional mock trial competition is...." The first word out of his mouth was the first word of our homeschool organization. And with the first word of his mouth, everyone out in the crowd who had come to watch us, probably consisting of at least 50 people (parents, friends, extra team members, coaches, etc.), simultaneously jumped in the air and started screaming and hugging each other. I was sitting in my seat screaming and nearly crying. One of our coach's daughters, Molly, was sitting next to me, and she was crying by the first word. I have never felt that exhilarated in my life. After the first initial screams, we went over to the other team and told them good job. I honestly felt bad for them, because it was the first time in 12 years they had lost, and I know it was disappointing. It kinda hurt to see them so disappointed. But after they all left the room, we were once again hugging and screaming and crying and going completely crazy. I know it sounds kind of overdone, but unless you are our team, you can't even begin to understand the excitement that was felt. I'm not kidding when I say that we put literally hundreds of hours into practicing for this competition. There is nothing to describe how excited we were to win.After we finally left the court house, we went over to one of our team member's house, and we threw a victory party. All of us were still so excited. I have never seen so much excitement and so much joy all in one place. It was absolutely amazing. I'm still amazed.

SO.
Now you know why I haven't been blogging lately. With three regular meetings a week going for at least 3 hours, and usually at least two extra meetings at people's houses, usually about 2-3 hours each, you know why I didn't have time. But I'm hoping to get a little more blogging in before the state competition, which is about a month and a half away.
Anyway, that is my very long explanation.
I'll try to write about something besides mock trial next time....
And so for now I'm signing off

~Madison