Mock Trial Students, And Their Mentors, Celebrate Victory

Fourteen students of Stissing Mountain high school’s Mock Trial team and their three advisors marked their recent win in the Dutchess County championship with an after-school celebration May 30. The team defeated peers from Beacon in late April after skillfully arguing a civil libel case before Red Hook Judge Jonah Triebwasser. 

At the celebration, students commented on what they had gained during the program. Many spoke of gaining confidence in public speaking. Leandra Costa said the mock trial experience makes you “learn to speak on your feet and find new ways to explain your arguments on the fly.” Siena Millar agreed, saying that the program was valuable because it introduced her to the professionalism required to speak confidently in public. 

The New York State High School Mock Trial Program is a project of The New York Bar Foundation, the New York State Bar Association, and the Law, Youth and Citizenship Program that engages thousands of high school students across the state. The Bar Association selects the case to be “tried” statewide each year and prepares the background information and law citations students use. Students play the roles of attorneys and witnesses in the case. This year’s case was based on the 1964 New York Times Company vs. Sullivan case, which decided in favor of the newspaper and established a definition of libel that strongly supported freedom of the press. 

Among Dutchess County high schools, Stissing Mountain consistently has the largest number of Mock Trial participants, despite it being one of the smallest schools. This success is to the credit of civics and economics teacher John Schoonmaker, who began organizing the program soon after being hired to teach in Pine Plains in 2003. Sarah Jones, a retired defense attorney and Town Board member, has also helped mentor the participating students for many years. More recently, Ryan Orton has assisted with the logistics of travel arrangements and necessary paperwork for the program. 

Schoonmaker told the students that the purpose of their last meeting of the year was to thank Jones for her leadership, which has made the program such a success. He said that since 2006, except for the two pandemic-limited years, Pine Plains has made it to the championship round at the county level every year. During 2021 and 2022, all or part of the program was done using Zoom. The students agreed that the in-person experience this year was superior to talking through screens.  

Jones thanked the students for “a wonderful year” and said she hoped they would apply the skills they learned in the Mock Trial program throughout their lives. “If our country is going to have a future as a democracy,” she said, “we must have folks engaging in their communities.” She said that in the future, they should all be willing to “get up on your feet and open your mouth.” 

“You’re a great group of people, and I feel good about the future with you as a part of it,” she concluded. 

Two members of this year’s team will be graduating from Stissing Mountain this month. Schoonmaker said he hoped the returning students would help recruit ninth graders in the fall to help ensure that the Mock Trial program continues its great success in Pine Plains.  

Due to scheduling problems, Pine Plains wasn’t able to participate in competition beyond the county level this year. Schoonmaker expressed hope that the group from Pine Plains might compete at the regional or state level next year.