If you venture into the teachers’ lounge after school, you may witness a senior football player, a sophomore girl, a Sagamore staff member and a theater actor all laughing hysterically at a joke told by a junior lacrosse player. This room is home to the oddball family known as the mock trial team.

“We spend so much time together, so we become really close with each other,” junior Lucy Friedman-Bell said. “The overall atmosphere for mock trial is just relaxed. We’re always joking; someone’s always laughing. We get a lot of work done, but we have fun doing it.”

Mock trial is a half-year class taught by African American and Latino Scholars Program Director Christopher Vick and Steps To Success Initiative Advisor Oneda Horne that meets two Z-blocks a week during the first semester as well as outside of class four to five times a week during a four month period when they participate in mock court cases.

The team takes the side of either the plaintiff or the defense and goes against other high schools in the area. A judge is present during these court cases and the judge determines the winning team by the end.

Mock trial was only a club last year and students did not get academic credit for their out of school commitment. This year, however, mock trial became a class, gained a new teacher, Horne, and increased substantially in size. Despite this increase in size, Friedman-Bell said that this team is more intimate than just a class.

Junior Eana Meng also noted the goofy, casual atmosphere during team meetings.

“We yell at each other and it’s just a lot of fun,” Meng said. “There is absolutely no censoring; we swear all the time. We say whatever we want. We judge each other in a very humorous way and we’re very open to each other.”

According to senior Calvin Thompson, mock trial brings together students from all different social factions.

“We just have a great time hanging out even though the people wouldn’t be a cohesive group outside of mock trial, and I really appreciate that,” Thompson said. “There are sophomores that I just love because they’re hilarious, but I would have never known them if it wasn’t for mock trial.”

Sophomore Gabe Sultan said he also would not have gotten to know the other members of the team if he never joined.

“It bridges grades,” Sultan said. “I never would have talked to Calvin otherwise, and now we’re good friends. It bridges people that play sports with people that don’t play sports. It’s a great unifier because it brings together people from all different walks of life and from all different academic areas.”

According to Thompson, competition is another huge part of mock trial.

“Mock trial is appealing to people who are cocky and competitive,” Thompson said. “We like winning a lot. It’s a chance to humiliate and intimidate people with your brain instead of your body. I play football, where the stronger and bigger kids beat the others up. But in mock trial, it’s all about being smarter, being quicker, being wittier so you can make someone look stupid.”

Mock trial uses this competitive environment as the glue keeping the team together.

“It’s very competitive; that’s the best part about it,” Sultan said. “We are in it to win and to have fun at the same time. We’re all teammates so we stick up for each other. That’s the dynamic of the court: There are attorneys and witnesses, and the attorneys have to stick up for the witnesses. We all have each other’s backs at all times, kind of like a sports team.”

According to Friedman-Bell, it is this common goal that brings together all the different types of students.

“There are just so many different personalities that are coming together,” Friedman-Bell said. “There are so many different backgrounds and so many different experiences. It really creates this weird family where we’re thrown together and we’re all working really hard and we’re all really focused.”

According to Meng, another factor in this family atmosphere is the teaching staff.

“Dr. Vick is just great,” Meng said. “He’s kind of like a dad because he yells at us all the time, but we all respect him so much. Respect is not to be demanded but to be earned, and Dr. Vick and Ms. Horne have absolutely earned all our respect 100 percent.”

Sultan also said the teaching staff brings the team even closer together.

“The best part about the team is Dr. Vick,” Sultan said. “He makes the team what it is. He turns it from a class into what really is a team. All you have to do is be around him for a couple minutes, and you’ll be laughing your head off already.”

Despite the affectionate ambiance of the team, Thompson said that sometimes the team spends too much time together.

“We practiced yesterday, on a Sunday, at my house,” Thompson said. “I was trying to watch TV and they all just came over.”

JK Suh can be contacted at [email protected].