Sequim High Mock Trial Club to compete at state

SEQUIM — Galaxy Murray says reviewing the case file details has made her a better listener.

Brody Andersen says he has better skills to argue with people, and that he even cross-examines his brother.

Ayden Humphries says he’s learned to be quick-thinking and how to shape questions to get the answers he’s looking for.

Finishing up an after-school practice at Sequim High’s H building, retired judge Susan Fisch grins.

“They’ve learned all of this since October,” she says, adding with a laugh, “in their ‘spare time.’ ”

And they learned well.

Earlier this school year, Sequim High School formed its first Mock Trial club. With 14 members, the club competed in its first regional competition the first week of February.

They took second place.

The team, now in its first season, advanced to the state competition March 24-26 in Thurston County, presenting opening and closing arguments and fulfilling roles as prosecuting and defense attorneys and as witnesses.

Assisting along the way are Fisch; Patrice Johnston, a Sequim School Board director and retired family law attorney who practiced law in Seattle for nearly 30 years, and social studies teacher Saralyn Pozernick, the club’s main advisor.

The club got its origin story, Pozernick noted, when Fisch contacted SHS principal Erin Fox about starting a club.

“I was happy to see it [formed], but I have no expertise,” Pozernick said.

“Our budget when we started this,” Fisch said, “was zero.”

Enter the League of Women Voters of Clallam County.

Bonnie Bless-Boenish, civics education chair for the group, said the organization came through with a $700 civics education grant it obtained through the WA League of Women Voters Education Fund.

Along with some SHS Associated Student Body funds, the club had the money to cover associated costs (transportation to and entry into competitions, supplies, etc.).

Without the donation, Pozernick said, “I’m not sure we’d be able to get this off the ground.”

The regional competition on Feb. 3-4 at the Kitsap County Superior Court in Port Orchard was run through the Seattle YMCA. It presented students in October with a fictional case based on real-life incidents, with the goal “to develop an understanding of real life case law and the role of the court system in a democratic society.”

“Swat the Fly,” a criminal case was, “meant to give students a deeper understanding of the issues that courts face when deciding who is accountable for a painful loss,” program organizers said.

In the fictional case, a child decides to exact revenge for a friend’s over-the-top practical joke. Students take on various roles to present arguments on both sides, learning how to “use reason and evidence in a scenario that is often fraught with raw emotion.”

Competitions are judged by actual attorneys and are staffed by active state judges.

The goal, she said, isn’t for a school to “win” the case, but for students to learn and improve various skills in the courtroom setting.

According to Seattle YMCA, 40 high schools across the state now have Mock Trial clubs, including Port Townsend High School.

Life skills

Club members, a mix of underclassmen and upperclassmen, came to join the club for various reasons and have gained a multitude of skills from their work.

Freshman Laila Sundin said she was always passionate about the environment, and that she was advised to look into law as a career.

“I was so happy to have this club; I love debate, I love philosophy,” she said.

“I think it’s a good life skill. I have a better ability to discuss things, rather than get hot and bothered.”

Grace Rogers, a freshman, said she learned that, unlike television courtroom dramas, there are no shocking moments of new evidence being revealed.

Ruby Coulson, a Sequim High senior who works with the nonpartisan, youth-led Legislative Youth Action Council through Lt. Gov. Denny Heck’s office, said Mock Trial club was needed at SHS.

“There are not a lot of humanity-based clubs at this school,” she said.

“I’d heard about it from other schools; I was so upset we didn’t have it,” Rogers said.

The Sequim students are getting help not only from Fisch, Johnston and Pozernick, but from a number of other entities and individuals throughout the community, advisors note. Students met with lawyers and judges, Sequim police officers, Clallam County prosecutors, the city’s attorney and others, all seeking to help.

“I cannot believe how many people have contacted us to help,” Pozernick said.

“Word has gotten out through the community,” Johnston added.

The Sequim team also connected with the Port Townsend club, one of the top teams in the state in 2022, for a practice workshop in mid-January. There, advisors noted, members of the community turned out to watch the students rehearse.

The club has opened some students’ eyes in terms of their career plans. Amelia Pozernick, Saralyn’s daughter, said she’s learning the skills to be a lawyer, and that she’s changed her college plans from an education track to pre-law.

Rogers said the club has had a profound effect on her, day-to-day.

“Mock Trial has changed the way my brain works. It’s kind of taken over my life right now,” she says, displaying her laptop — emblazoned “Mock Trial” on the screen.

Boenish said two of the club’s students were brave enough to speak at a Sequim City Council meeting in January, advocating for funding of a vocational center for the Sequim School District. (The council on Jan. 23 voted to approve backing of the project to the tune of $250,000.)

“It’s blossoming into civic discussion,” Boenish said. “We look forward to more.”

Sequim High School’s Mock Trial club members include Brody Andersen, Draxxis Anderson, Georgia Bullard, Ruby Coulson, Benjamin Elmenhurst-Jones, Amara Gonzalez, Katherine Gould, Ayden Humphries, Finn Marlow, Galaxy Murray, Amelia Pozernick, Grace Rogers, Laila Sundin and Aaron Tolberd.

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Michael Dashiell is the editor of the Sequim Gazette of the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which also is composed of other Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News and Forks Forum. Reach him at editor@sequimgazette.com.