By Noelle Dinant
FITCHBURG -- Like a prizefighter, the Fitchburg High School mock trial team has been slugging away at each competitor that steps into the ring - or court - to challenge it this spring. The 13 member Fitchburg team defeated about seven teams, including the three-time defending champions Boston English High School, to advance to the state finals and face Newton North High School in Boston on Friday.
The fight was a slugfest.
The Fitchburg team hung in there like champions, but eventually succombed to Newton North. "It was extremely tough," said James Lallas, an English teacher at the school and coach of the team. "The kids worked so hard."
"I think their witnesses were very well prepared to get in as much of their own material as possible," Lallas said. "We don't encourage as much creative interpretation of the text."
The same court case, a sexual harassment suit set in a combined junior and senior high school, was used throughout the mock trial rounds, from district playoffs to the national championships this year. The teams prepare for both sides of the case because they won't know, until the day of each round of competition, which side they will represent.
Katrina Stathis, a senior at Fitchburg High and a first year member of the mock trial team, plays the role of the attorney of the parents of the eight-grade student, who was allegedly harassed by a senior at the school. Her strategy, Stathis said, is to concentrate on the fact that the parents were ignored by school officials when they notified the school of their daughter's concerns. Then she plays her trump card: the guidance counselor.
"When I tell them that the guidance counselor laughed in the parents' faces, that gets the court's attention. And when you have the court's attention you have control of the courtroom," Stathis said. "All eyes are on you."
A Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court justice heard the case.
"The judge was fair," Stathis said. "She wanted us to be able to argue our point. When someone objected, she would listen to bogth sides of the arguments." Lassas said that one of the strengths of the Fitchburg team was the strength of is objections.
"I think the vast majority of (our opponent's) objections were overruled," he said. "Our lawyers were very successful in using the law to get our objections sustained by the judge."
Most of the mock trial teams memorize a closing argument based on the known facts of the case, he continues. While this works in principle, it doesn't allow for the subtle variations that occur during each mock trial.
"Often, they make a closing that has little relation to what actually happened in the courtroom," Lallas said. "Our team manages to keep very close track of the details. The team has learned to feed Melissa (Fregosi) this information. Melissa then constructs her closing argument on the spot, so that it's utterly accurate."
While the Fitchburg team won the case, a numerical evaluation of each participant's performance decides which team wins the match. There are 11 roles to play on each side of the case, and each role can score a maximum of 10 points, with scoring judged on how comprehensively the role is developed and performed.
(The score was not in this S&E article. But I was told by a team member that Fitchburg lost by 2 points. -- Ken)
The Fitchburg team took the news of their defeat with grace, Lallas said,"I was extrodinarily proud of our kids. They immediately crossed over to the other side of the room and congratulated the other team. I was so proud of them when they did that because our team had worked so hard."
Stathis agreed that the day was a success.
"I think today went really well," she said. "We did our best and worked really hard to get where we were. Whether we won or lost, we were proud to be at the state finals."
"I've learned," she continued, "that you can have the best case and argue it better than the other side, but you can still lose. You need to go on, and know that you did the best that you can do."