By Lenox Johnson ’24
Staff Writer
Adorned in sneakers and a leather jacket, the president of the Mount Holyoke College Mock Trial Team was a natural sight amongst the academic decorum of Williston Memorial Library where books abound the umber walls.
Klara Grygo ’23, a politics major in her penultimate year at Mount Holyoke, has refounded the Mount Holyoke College Mock Trial Team for the 2021 season. The initial dissolution of the organization has led students like Grygo to take initiative in creating academic spaces on campus beyond the classroom. Grygo, president of the new MHC Mock Trial Team, has taken it upon herself to give the group a second life, essentially from scratch.
Photo Courtesy of Rosemary Geib ‘23
Mock Trial is an organization in which students are given a fictional case and asked to compete against one another in a competition held by the American Mock Trial Association. Students compete as attorneys and witnesses for both the defense and prosecution. Teams from different colleges compete against one another in performance of courtroom mannerisms, cross and direct examinations, objections and other realistic court procedures.
Grygo’s first encounter with mock trial was in 2015. In her first year of high school, Grygo was timid and withdrawn, seldom feeling comfortable enough to assert herself in public spaces. Grygo found that mock trial effectively forced her out of her comfort zone, enabling her to build a solid foundation on which to cultivate her confidence. “My very first year of high school mock trial I was a little bit awkward [and] I was pretty shy,” Grygo said. “I spoke very softly and I wasn’t very outspoken in general.”
Grygo began to notice drastic change in multiple avenues of her life: public speaking, poise and conviction. As she gained experience in mock trial, her reticence faded.
Grygo credits the support system available at Mount Holyoke as a determining factor in her confidence in restarting the organization.
“I think the Mount Holyoke atmosphere [made me feel] like I can do this,” Grygo said. “[It’s] just being here and seeing other people do so much. They’re always working towards something and doing all of these different things. Just seeing that made me [think] I could start a team here.”
Upon arriving at Mount Holyoke, Grygo was not disheartened by the absence of an active Mock Trial team. Instead, she viewed the circumstance as an opportunity to build an institution from the ground up.
Having been involved in four years of high school mock trial, Grygo was no stranger to the intricacies of the operation. “It was a mix of being really excited and really looking forward to starting this opportunity and helping others have a team here,” Grygo said.
As a first and second year student at Mount Holyoke, Grygo competed with the Amherst College Mock Trial team. She reasoned that, in order to have the experience to teach other people, she needed exposure to collegiate competition.
Grygo’s sophomore year of collegiate competition was interrupted by COVID-19, prompting her to take the preliminary steps towards refounding the MHC team.
“I knew that I wanted to start a team here, I just wanted to have the experience to be able to teach other people,” Grygo said. “I knew from the very beginning this was something I really wanted to do. I could be part of starting this and helping other students have this opportunity when I graduate.”
Since its fruition, Grygo knew starting the organization would be a major undertaking. She found, though, that it was even more extensive in practice than in theory. Following the formation of the mock trial executive board, Grygo and her team set out to organize their first meeting. “It was the first time for all of us,” Grygo said. “It was a big trial learning the process, how to run an org and how to make one function well.”
Transitioning to conducting events on campus in the fall 2021 semester required the coordination of several technical tasks: finding meeting spaces, hosting meetings, managing timelines and applying for funding. Grygo saw the feat as simultaneously exciting and nerve-wracking.
Excited murmurs traveled through the room as the MHC Mock Trial Team executive board began their first in-person meeting in fall ’21. Grygo was in awe of the amount of students who showed up eager for the first season to begin. One of Grygo’s executive board members turned to her, expressing how excited they had become in seeing the room filled with prospective members. Grygo described the moment as deeply emotional. “Seeing people show up, talk to each other and introduce themselves was exciting,” Grygo said. “It was a fun moment, but it was also a really surreal thinking back to where I started. It was so great to see everyone there. It made it feel very real.”
Grygo is hopeful for the future of the organization and this season’s competition. In her pursuit to refound the Mount Holyoke Mock Trial Team, Grygo hopes to have created an organization that is not just an asset for current students, but one that will last far beyond her time here.
“This is how college organizations are started,” Grygo said, “just a person who has an idea.”