Mock trial team sets goals with assistance of new teacher

When history teacher Jeffrey Scott left the school last spring and returned to teach in his hometown of Napa Valley, students participating in mock trial were left without an adviser. Luckily of them, another social studies teacher, Jim Chin, has now agreed to help the group.

Chin has a rich background in speech and debate and he believes that his skills in extemporaneous speaking can help the team.

“In high school, I was the captain at Monta Vista when Monta Vista’s speech and debate team was student-run so the captains coached the events,” Chin said. “I also coached speech and debate for [extemporaneous speech] at Sequoia High School last year.”

Since Chin is currently assimilating into the mock trial culture, he expects the veterans of the team to take the initiative to assist new members if they struggle.

“I want the student leaders to make it their own and use this as a leadership opportunity instead of having me tell them what to do,” Chin said. “At this point, they know more about the logistics than I do.”

Chin views his role of club adviser as a spectator, but will jump in when students have an issue with the the speaking part of mock trial or need adult assistance.

“I am the go-to person when they need an adult of record, a judge or chaperones and I give access to the room and am there at every practice helping with what I can,” Chin said. “I can also help a lot with elocution and physicality.”

After summoning his high school speech and debate memories, Chin wants to see students developing as he did as a high school student.

“I had this fear of public speaking, so my friend and I made a mutual pact to join speech and debate to conquer that fear and it was super helpful,” Chin said. “So the main goal is for students to have personal growth.”   

In the 2010-2011 school year, the seniors carried the mock trial team to the Santa Clara County finals, but after they graduated, only five experienced students were left to recruit and build up another strong team.

“Last year was our rebuilding year and we had only five veteran members and a whole team of newcomers so it was definitely hard getting everyone up to speed, but we ended up doing better than expected,” mock trial captain senior Ashwini Velchamy said.

Velchamy’s goal for the mock trial team this year is to have a full group working to the best of their abilities.

“We're still advertising and publicizing mock trial as much as possible and we want more people to join,” Velchamy said. “Overall our intention is to do our best, and once we have a full team, I hope we'll be able to achieve that.”