Every week, Giles hall transforms into a courthouse, where the Spelman College Mock Trial Association meets, specifically their competitive teams, Columbia Blue and Team Lavender. The teams work with coaches Chaundra Lewis, Adrienne Nash, Olivia Jenkins, Alasia Dalton and Madison “Maddie” Thompson.
The team members catch objectionable testimony with lightning speed, using accents to portray characters, and asking carefully crafted questions to evoke telling responses from the witnesses. All Spelman students have a chance to learn about the association and audition to participate in its invigorating engagements.Locations for annual informational meetings are packed, as students are eager to learn.
“Members of the mock trial team participate in the American Mock Trial Association (AMTA) competitions facing hundreds of schools across the country,” team captain Alexis Sims said.
Students catch a glimpse of preparing criminal and civil cases, learning the importance of oral advocacy, the art of rhetoric, and the strategies of legal technique.
The AMTA consists of the Regional Tournament in February, the Opening Round Championship Series (ORCS) Tournament in March, and the National Championship Tournament in April. After registering, the teams receive their case from the AMTA and practice it from fall to spring. From the fall to January, their Coaches and Captain arrange several scrimmages before the season tournament starts in February. The Spelman mock trial teams are two of the only HBCU teams in the country to compete.
Teams Columbia Blue and Lavender travel to tournament venues near and far to compete with other institutions in two-to-three-day competitions on the weekend, from the regional to, if selected, the national level. Spelman’s Columbia Blue and Lavender teams recently resurfaced after Spelman Mock Trial’s last hiatus, but already have an attention-grabbing reputation in the community of mock trial participants.
Spelman Mock Trial offers networking, competitions, civic engagement and quality time with members. February 3-8, the association hosted Mock Trial Week: six days of social media fun, community service, and other bonding activities. Sims and Vice President of Finance and Fundraising Aniyah Eastmond shed light on the significance and impact of these events in an interview with me.
Proud volunteers of Our House, an organization supporting the homeless, Mock Trial hosted a
diaper drive in upper Manley for the infants in the shelter located in Atlanta.
“As we debate about these hypothetical cases of justice, we recognize that there are real issues…surrounding us,” Simms said. “We aim to assist in community efforts to address these instances of injustice that so demand our attention.”
In collaboration with the Ethel Waddell Githii Honors Program, the Bonner Scholar Program, the Minority Association of Pre-Medical Students and the Collegiate Advocates for Reproductive
Equity Initiative of the Social Justice Program, Mock Trial collected over one thousand diapers and many other baby essentials for the shelter during Mock Trial Week.
“In past years, we cooked breakfast for the people in the shelter. And so it was just more so like a team bonding activity, but also giving back to the community, and also just having conversations with them and speaking with them, and just talking to them about their lives. And just, you know, just getting to know them on a personal level,” Eastmond said.
The association made an impact in the AUC community during the same week, leading a community clean-up in the local area. Bonding as a team, the volunteers completed about three hours of work to maintain a clean, welcoming environment.
Bringing their services to the student body at Spelman, Mock Trial hosted a Speech and Legal Advocacy Workshop. The Association invited Alumnae and Judge Jana J. Edmondson-Cooper to the campus to qualify students in court etiquette and performance.
Spelman mocker, Jaila Hatch, created a fictional case for the participants to perform during the workshop, and they impressed everyone, including the captain and co-president.
“We were just having a ball with it. Many of the people who came weren’t a part of the association and they presented the arguments in front of all of us, and it was great to see how,
in just a short amount of time, they were able to pick up on the skills,” Hatch said. ” And hopefully, you know, with most of them interested in law, they will be able to use that in the future, as well.”
