There exist several extracurricular activities at Iona College for students to get involved in according to their interests. Campus Ministries, Student Government, ICTV and Greek life to name a few, are all open and available to anyone, and serve the purpose of uniting members, serving the community and broadening horizons. One particular activity on campus, Iona’s Mock Trial team, falls most heavily into the latter description.

Mock Trial is a practice that college and law students take part in to better prepare themselves for their desired future professions: attorneys at law. Most simply, it is an act or imitation trial, consisting of a case, attorneys, witnesses and cross-examinations that are all conducted by the students on the mock trial team.

These teams compete in prestigious mock trial competitions, vying for awards and recognition on the regional and national levels. While this all may seem straightforward or uncomplicated, the workings that take place behind the scenes of a mock trial team are anything but easy.

The mock trial team at Iona College practices and studies several hours a week in preparation for a handful of competitions that take place throughout the year. This studying and preparation is in addition to any schoolwork the members of the team may have.

“Mock trial is a time-consuming endeavor. It is not the kind of ‘club’ that meets once a week for an hour. Additionally, for most people, it requires learning of the law, something that is by no means easy,” freshman member Kim Costanzo said.  However, mock trial does have great benefits that far surpass the blood, sweat and tears.

“We work hard together and individually, but the time and effort become worth it when we got to competitions-it definitely pays off. Whether or not I become a lawyer, I am certain that skills I learned on mock trial will be useful to me in the future,” she said.

Iona’s Mock Trial team certainly does see the fruits of their labor and their extreme hard work pay off. At a competition at University of Pennsylvania, they returned to Iona with a first place title, and an individual Attorney Award for senior member Amy Cassidy. Great successes such as these serve as motivation to work harder as their season progresses.

Currently, the mock trial team is preparing for their most important competition of the year, which will take place at Yale University on Feb. 12 and 13.

“This competition is what the whole year leads up to.  All of the past competitions this year have just been preparation for the competition at Yale.  We have been in three tournaments, and I know that this experience has made the team ready for anything at our regional tournament,” senior member Brittni Uhl said.

Whether or not the competition at Yale brings this team a favorable outcome, Uhl’s experience with mock trial as a whole can be deemed a success.

“Mock Trial has been the best experience I have had at Iona.  It is a program that takes you out of the class and out of your comfort zone and requires you to perform at a level that you never thought that you could.  Not only does it teach you rules of evidence and courtroom procedure but how to apply that in situations on the fly.  I am confident that the skills and knowledge I gained while on the mock trial team will help for many years,” Uhl said.

Broadening horizons and pushing limits is most definitely a purpose of this extracurricular at Iona. It also serves to teach teamwork, leadership and responsibility for all of those involved. Striving to receive first place trophies and prestigious awards is always a goal as well, and this desire for excellence has benefits in and of itself.

With all of these advantages, the hard work and dedication absolutely seem necessary and worth the work. Iona’s mock trial team appears to recognize and agree with this notion. All in all, participating in an activity such as mock trial will be nothing but beneficial to its members in all walks of life.