And the Verdict Is......Guilty

She was guilty of participating in the Mock Trial competition.  For the past school year, Maddie's afternoon's have been consumed by Mock Trial.  You may not know what Mock Trial is, I didn't.  Even after she came home late from school for a month, I didn't know what it was.  When she came home excited that she had been upgraded from witness to a prosecutor lawyer, I was excited for her, but I still didn't know what it was.  She was worried about it, she fretted about it, she studied for it, and she worked at it.  I still didn't really know what it was!  Finally it was time for the competition.  As I do with most of my children's activities, I attended the competition, even though I still didn't really know what it was!  After the competition, I finally knew what it was.  I had been cheering Maddie on all along, but after I finally understood what it was, I was very impressed.
For Mock Trial, the team is given a case.  They have a defendant, witnesses, and experts.  Then they present their case, the defense and prosecution to a real judge at the real county courthouse.  Each school has a prosecution and a defense.  One school runs the prosecution and another runs the defense.  They are timed so the trial doesn't go on forever.  They are allowed to object, and must defend their objections.  It was very interesting.  It was much more difficult than I anticipated as the lawyers tried to find different ways to ask the same question in a different manner, or tried to calmly explain or defend their objection.  The witnesses tried to answer the questions that placed their side of the case in a pleasant light.  It was very entertaining.  I had not thought that much about it.  It was much different from the traditional sports competition, but no less entertaining.  I enjoyed seeing the teenagers striving to improve themselves and learn to act in a professional manner.  I am grateful that Maddie was in the Mock Trial competition, and I thought that she did great!!!