Mock Trial Club has officially ended its season, having its final trial on Wednesday, March 22. Unfortunately, they did not make it state however it wasn’t a fully negative experience.

“We’ve grown so much from the beginning of the school year that we felt like we’ve worked so hard that we deserve to be in state but the reality is, when you start behind no matter how hard you work, it’s not a a system in which people are chosen and moved into positions of success, power, and influence based on their demonstrated abilitymeritocracy,” says Michael Mettenburg one of the Mock Trial coaches. Samantha Rose, is another coach who is a law student who helped the mock trial group.

Even if the results were not what they were hoping for, the students’ spirits were not dampened. In fact at the trial, most students were satisfied with their performance. Franny Jordan ‘26 claimed, “We had everything memorized. So yeah, and I think we got some pretty good objections done.”

This club is new to West High which means that some students who participated did not have any prior experience with law or the gist of mock trials.

Jessica Li ‘24 is grateful to her coach for guiding them through the season. “A lot of the people who were joining were new at the time. And so he really helped us by teaching us all the basics of mock trial and we really worked together a lot and it was pretty impressive.”

Reem Kirja ‘25, one of the members, claims, “we didn’t make it to state but honestly the overall atmosphere, the supportiveness and the journey itself, made the whole thing worth it, even if we weren’t able to make it there.” 

Many wonder how the Mock Trial Club will look next year and how the dynamic will be.

Mettenburg would like to see the club flourish like the other schools. “I would like to see it be an established club that fundraises in the offseason and you know, gets to the point where it is at City High where it’s just an expectation that teams will go to state there like how our debate team is here.”

Students are already brainstorming their approach for next year. “Overall, I think the knowledge was there, the brainpower was there, but the confidence was not okay,” Reem Kirja ‘25 claims. She adds, “That is something that I definitely want to work on with my team next year.”

While there is progress to be made, students are enthusiastic about what next year could look like. “We, unfortunately, didn’t make it to state but that’s okay. It’s our first year. We’re gonna come back way stronger next year,” Jessica Li ‘24 claims. 

Throughout the interview process, it was easy to see that these students had heaps of admiration for their coaches and vise-versa. The love was undoubtedly mutual. Mettenburg says, “Thanks for your time and effort this season. I can’t wait to eat that burger with you next year.” If that last part doesn’t make sense don’t worry, Mettenburg claims it’s an inside joke. 

Overall the Mock Trial club thrived considering they were a new organization this year. It’ll be exciting to see what the future holds with this amazing group of students.