Easter Eggs

The third week of November. Months ago. It was cold, dark and rainy. And there was a night where I spent 5 hours sitting on the floor of my room picking apart documents that I knew I was going to look at for the next 5 months. For some of us it feels like it was just yesterday when we all got the email that contained the case for this years Alaska High School 30th mock trial competition. It was a civil case involving the land dispute of 2 Alaskan people that was only brought to trail after 20 million dollars of gold was discovered. In Alaska, land is often a factor of disputes.

This Civil case, written by a team of lawyers and judges, was meant to deal with deeds and the validity of a deed written on a bar napkin one night in the dead of winter between a man with a gambling debt to pay and a woman who loved the land so much she just had to have it. Homesteaded property debates are boring, often contain many factors and points of contention and require compete knowledge of property terms. Practice was twice a week where the students spend hours and hours picking apart the case trying to see both sides of who really owned the land. This case was special because to felt with topics that even us coaches had to research for weeks to thoroughly understand. The topic of Adverse possession, homestead patents and quiet title were at the forefront. And what high schooler can confidently explain those topics to the point where it would become a winning argument.

Weeks and weeks of practice, research, prep and scrimmages all came down to one weekend where we would fly to Anchorage to defend our State Champion title. No pressure. After practice, us coaches would debate on what the good arguments were, what the map meant, where the fork in the road on the map went, and of the 20 million dollars was a point to focus on since the claim of adverse possession only dealt with the cabin built and not the surrounding property. Many nights were spent writing out and sending messages about arguments to make and what issues needed to be left alone. I am surprised the students were able to deal with us coaches also debating the law when they were trying to simply understand it. The team was coached by one of the history teachers at the high school who has been coaching this team forever, Abe, a past AmeriCorps member who coached the State winning team last year and is heading to Harvard Law, Owen, a student teacher at Sitka High school who competed on the SHS mock trial team when he was in high school, an Alaskan judge and myself. Safe to say we were qualified.

In high school mock trial, the teams need to prepare for both sides of the case, meaning that arguments need to be sound and arguable for both parties. This is a difficult thing to do. The students worked endlessly, creating new arguments to make, writing questions, and researching the evidence that was being brought in the case. Scrimmage after scrimmage with the team, new things were discovered and It truly felt like we were never going to be done finding new things to bring into the case. 6 lawyers and 6 witnesses worked day in and day out, sometimes staying longer that they had to and spending hours in the court room on Sunday nights in order to practice and go over every little detail of the case. The commitment to the case and team that these students have impressed me every time we practiced. after weeks of practice, it was finally time to go to anchorage to defend the State champion title.

It was a long Wednesday when we had the last team scrimmage in the Sitka court house. The kids did really well and we were more than prepared to go compete. After 4 and a half hours in the court house, a successful dress rehearsal of the case was over and it was now time to go home and pack. Last minute me had still not done the laundry I needed from my last trip to Anchorage 2 weeks earlier. Mom, sorry I have a busy schedule. It was soon midnight and I had to be up at 4 am to get on the 6:05am flight that cold Thursday morning. The morning came too fast and at 4 in the morning, I grabbed my bags, got a ride to the airport and was greeted with the rest of the coaches and team at the airport. It was clear we were all exhausted. But that is what the 2.5 hour flight was for…sleeping. The flight to Anchorage was eventful as when we went to land, the plane descended…..then went back up in the air due to a coyote running around the runway. There was also as another plane was following us circling the runway to land. No big deal. The pilot was casual about announcing it.

Once in Anchorage, we headed to the University of Alaska Anchorage library to get more practice in before the trails on Friday. So yes, the kids were now being introduced to college type studying where spending 6 hours on a study room was normal. After hours or prep and practice, breakdowns had come and gone. I think the stress i remember most in my life was the stress from mock trial. And it is a very distinct stress where it never goes away until the final tally of points. In high school mock trial, you could lose the verdict of the trial but still win based on points awarded to how well the case was argued by both the lawyers and witnesses. It is a stress that leads to funny stuff where crying is just part of the process. And it is not a mock trial competition until you, as a lawyer, fight with your own witness. After many hours of being in the UAA library it was finally time to go compete against teams from all over Alaska. The ride from the hotel to the courthouse was a quiet one, but also surprisingly okay. All of the kids were more than prepared and they all got great pep talks for us coaches. “they are going to be fine” came out of my mouth bout 100 times this weekend.

Walking into the Boney Courthouse brought back rushing feelings of when I competed and the ever present stress that was going on. Once inside, we went to the floor where the courtrooms were open for us to set up. Team Sitka 1 and Sitka 2 were 2 different teams meaning we did not compete against each other. Abe and I stayed with Sitka 2 for their 2 trials against Anchorage schools, who sent at least 4 teams to compete.

When entering the court room, one of the students oddly pulled out tiny chocolate Cadbury eggs and went to place them all around the courtroom. A tradition that was started in 2011. The first trail went well and there were only a coupe of hiccups where an unexpected objection happened or the judge overruled an objection we had a valid reason to make. But really nothing out of the ordinary. It was clear that our kids were more prepared and made great presentations of the case. After the jury deliberated, we had won on the defense side. In HS mock, the teams need to be prepared to argue both sides, so for the first trial Sitka 2 was defense and trial 2 they were the Plaintiff.

After the first trial, we went on straight to the second one where we had to be the Plaintiff side. This trail was filled with confusion regarding the rules of the trial as the other team of lawyers were doing things that were not allowed. In order to keep anonymity, real names may not be used, they broke that rule, they cannot have one lawyer making all of the objections, and they also cannot coach witnesses from the bench. All of these things happened, throwing Abe and I for a loop. With the rule breaks, and our kids being confused, we still managed to come out on top, winning both trials for the day and earning very high point scores for the execution of the information. This put us at the top of the leader board for the first day trials. The other Sitka team went 1 and 1, but gaining enough points to earn a high spot at the end of day 1.

That night after the trials, we then went to the supermarket to get food. To say we pillaged the snack aisle was an understatement. Getting back to the hotel at 11pm, due to the last trials not starting until 8pm, we were hungry and tired. But we all still sat as a team at the hotel and discussed team strategies for the next day. I don’t think we went to bed until at least 12:30 in the morning. Throughout the whole weekend Abe and I kept saying to each other how our dreams were plagued with mock trial stress from when we competed.

We were all up bright and early in the morning on Saturday and the energy of the kids was still at an all time high. All we kept reminding them was how well prepared they were and that the hard part was over. The drive that morning was dark and cold. Once in the courthouse, more pep talks were had and we just kept telling the kids that no matter how they did we were proud. The possibility of placing and winning States was high for the teams and we did not want the pressure of being the defending State Champs take over their minds. I decided to follow the other Sitka team that day and give pointers to the kids as these were the 2 teams that first Sitka team faced the day previous, so I knew what we had to do to beat them. The possibly of the teams competing to the finals meant 4 trials. So after the 2 initial trials, and after we successfully forced point deductions for the team that was breaking the rules the previous day(they did the same things again but I prepped the kids to point it out to the judges it was happening and to then write down all the rule breaks and submit it to the judge upon the end of the trial), it was time to find out who made the semi finals and what teams we would have to go against.

After the break, we found out that the Sitka teams, both Sitka 1 and Sitka 2, made the semi finals. This was huge for us! It was now up to us to beat the Anchorage teams. The Sitka 2 team defeated one of them. I was in the trial with the Sitka 1 team where the trial was very close and our kids fought for every objection and were doing really well against a clearly experienced team. Proud was an understatement. It is a different experience being behind the lawyer tables and hearing an objectionable question come up and then having to fight standing up yourself. After the deliberation, we had won the verdict, but then the points were counted and we ended up losing by points. I am still confused as the lawyers cut off our witnesses, were rude, and not dressed very well. Sitka 2 ended up winning both the verdict and the points meaning that they were going to the finals and got to argue in the Supreme Court room.

It was now down to our Sitka 2 team, which had 2 seniors on it that were State Champs last year, against the team that had just beat out or Sitka 1 team. Walking into the Supreme Court brought a whole new element to the trial, 3 judges, no jury and a room that was huge. Bright white lights, 9 green judges chairs, and a well(space where the lawyers can walk around to deliver arguments) large enough to fit swimming pool. Before the trial, I made sure to follow the egg tradition and place 4 eggs in each corner of the court. To say we are superstitious is an understatement. The trial began and it was clear that these teams were evenly matched. Making objection after objection the kids fought long and hard to prove the Plaintiff’s case. After 90 minutes of arguments, witness testimony, our witnesses being cut off my the lawyers for the other team(again) and the overruling of some big objections, the trial was coming to a close. As coaches, we knew that our kids were more prepared and had things memorized…this made us just look better. It was going to come down to the closing arguments. Our student making the closing argument did fabulous and we definitely ended on a high note.

It was now time for the 3 judges to go deliberate. This lead to the most stressful 20 minutes of my coaching life. All we kelp saying was how proud we were of them and that they were fine. The judges returned to read the verdict and we were all holding our breaths. But whoever won the verdict did not necessary win the State Champ title. It was decided that the ruled in favor of the defense, and subsequently the other team. Us being sad was just something we had to get through. In my opinion, we argued much better, were much more prepared, did not be mean to the witnesses and we had better opening and closing arguments. Our kids actually moved around the well and the witnesses had great character portrayal. From a coaching standpoint, we knew that out kids were better. But the judge claimed that the case all came down to the writing on the napkin deed of sale for the land and that did not bode well for the Plaintiff. It just happens.

15 minutes had gone by and the points were read out and all of the places of the teams were read out. Our Sitka 1 team ended up getting 4th place. Which was fabulous for them as they were a younger team. It was down to first and second place. Safe to say all of our heart rates were at an all time high. Squeezing each others hands for dear life, it was time to find out who came out on top. You could hear a pin drop in the room that was occupied by at least 50 people. Before we knew what was happening, the points were read aloud. Turns out the Easter egg theory worked. It was announced that the second place team was Anchorage West 1. This meant that Sitka had come out on top in a close point race with a point difference of less than 10. Immediately I saw one of the seniors get up and immediately run to us coaches. In the row in front of me, Abe was sitting with is head down, absorbing the fact that we won when we all thought that we had not. It did not hit me right away…the noise in the room was nonexistent to my ears and seeing the scene of our lawyers and witnesses hugging and the other team crying was a blur. One of my students, who I also coach for softball, ran to me and just went “coach we did it” and it was in that moment we all cried. Not believing that we were now defending State Champs yet again. After pictures were taken, the plaque being presented to the team, and hugs on top go hugs later, we could all go out to dinner and take a breath. The entire weekend I don’t think anyone actually ate or let themselves relax. Getting in the car, we all took a moment to breathe and let our shoulders return to normal and not be up at our ears. We were Alaska High School Mock Trial State Champions…again.

And on our plane ride home as soon as we arrived to Sitka, the Pilot informed the whole plane to congratulate the Sitka High School Mock Trial Team on being State Champions.....again.