Drury students seek to encourage civic engagement with Mock Trial
Campus News October 8, 2025, Comments OffThere are plenty of sports that continue into the collegiate realm, but the transfer of extra-curricular activities from high school to college is not always guaranteed. Within the university setting, it can feel as though there are not many easily accessible opportunities to participate in public speaking.
This year, the pre-law club has considered the idea of creating a Mock Trial team. Mock Trial is a public speaking competition that recreates actual trial procedures. Students are either put as an attorney, witness, or even both. These competitions occur annually at the regional, state, and national levels.
The mock trials combine theatrics and court procedures, and they are judged by actual elected judges of certain counties. Mock trials also foster a competitive environment. Teams that compete at regionals in these annual competitions may move to the state level, and if the team chooses to, the national level.
When The Mirror spoke with Sara Etcher, the pre-law club’s vice president, she stated that this activity can provide Drury students with critical skills for their current and future professional careers. The specific skills that Etcher believes mock trial focuses on the most are research, writing, and speaking. “It would directly enable those interested in legal-related fields,” she stated.
These skills could also greatly influence the desire for civic engagement on our campuses. According to the University of Chicago, civic engagement is “working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes.”
As students engage with fictional court cases through Mock Trial, this campus activity can promote civic engagement by driving students to craft arguments around one of the most important questions in the legal field: guilty or not guilty. This naturally enhances media literacy and critical thinking skills for students. Additionally, Mock Trial emphasizes the concept of learning how to speak within the courts to produce change.
Civic engagement is significant at our universities because it aids students in advocating against social injustices. With students learning court procedures, they are given an opportunity to experience a more authentic courtroom, as opposed to the overly dramatic court shows on primetime television. In these court related dramas, the representation of the procedures is far from accurate. Mock Trial, on the other hand, relies heavily on accurate court procedures and the true approaches that occur in an actual court room.
Altogether, the competitive activity of Mock Trial encourages more civic engagement opportunities on campus. Through developing such critical skills, students may be better equipped in their professional journeys in the legal field or beyond.
Etcher explained that some students are already eager to take part in this opportunity. She stated that there are currently five to ten students interested in competing if the organization comes to fruition. The search for an advisor to sponsor this activity is also ongoing; however, Etcher hopes to form the team this year.
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