Nanakuli High and Intermediate School never had a Mock Trial Club, until now. The club offers seniors and juniors an opportunity to develop better critical thinking skills, public speaking, and document analyzing skills through playing out court cases.

The Mock Trial Club is being advised by AP English teacher Robyn Faumuina and to the best of her knowledge, may be the first time the school has offered it to students. The club meets twice a month.

“Mock trial is an act or imitation trial; students will learn the ins and outs of the legal system, learn laws, how to interpret them, how to argue laws in a court setting,” said Faumuina.

Students will get to showcase what they learned in an annual competition.

“Students then compete against other schools in the state in a competition that is held in Spring,” said Faumuina.

Faumuina created this club for several reasons, one, to change the perception of Nanakuli.

“There’s a lot of negative perception for kids out here, and I wanted to put an end to that because there are a lot of smart kids out here,” said Faumuina.

Another reason why the club was started was to give students a different choice in extra curricular activities.

Faumuina said, “I wanted to give students a chance to do something other than sports, like a competition.”

In the Mock Trial Club, students will do many things pertaining to the court system.

“Members will get to participate as witnesses, jury, prosecutor, defense attorney, and defendant, and will attend annual competitions, and possibly take it to the mainland,” said Faumuina.

Faumuina plans to make sure students are challenged every meeting.

“There will be objectives for every practice, like the learning targets we use in class; that way we can accomplish something during every meeting/practice,” said Faumuina.

Senior Antonette “Toni” Labrador said, “Well, my teacher told me about it and it seemed interesting; we practice and get the real experience of being a court group.”