Mock Trial is wrapping up its second year as an official club at Manhattan High School, after being classified as an interest group for a year.

“Mock Trial is a club where we functionally pretend to be attorneys and witnesses in simulated court cases,” sophomore Lauren Day said. “So we go into real courtrooms with real judges to act as our judge.”

Attorneys and witnesses don’t just wing it, there is a lot of work that goes into preparation for these trials.

“Attorneys have to spend upwards of a couple hours preparing their speeches along with both direct and cross-examination questions for witnesses, you work very closely with your assigned witness,” Day said. “Witnesses will memorize their entire affidavit and sometimes other people’s to make sure they have every fact, statistic and maybe opinion down to a T.”

Sophomore Savannah Harvey, who serves as secretary this year, will be president of Mock Trial next year.

“I’m going to be working with other officers to help get outside help for Mock Trial, and just figuring out how we can be more competitively successful next year,” Harvey said.

Throughout the early years of the club, participation has increased.

“I think we had about 14 participate in the club this year, which was really good,” Harvey said. “It was a big jump from last year, and we’re hoping to grow next year as well.”

MHS took fifth at Wichita Regionals on Feb. 22 and competed at the State tournament on March 29, though they haven’t gotten results back yet.

“We’re really happy with how we did,” Harvey said. “We definitely improved a lot.”

Even for students that don’t necessarily plan on pursuing a career in law after high school, Mock Trial can serve as a character and skill building experience.

“Mock Trial really hones your work ethic, along with memory, ability to work with other people, ability to form good speeches and arguments,” Day said. “Honestly, it’s just a great opportunity to meet new people and get better at competing.”