I was pushed out of my comfort zone at the beginning of my 10th grade school year. As a member of my school’s Mock Trial team, a competition where two teams simulate a given court case in a timed trial, I had months preparing to play the role of a defense “witness” on the team. Practices progressed with “attorneys” working on direct and cross examinations of “witnesses”. However, one week before the first competition, an “attorney” abruptly left the team. To fill this void, our coach appointed me the permanent replacement “attorney”. This was incredibly daunting as I had to work from scratch, formulating questions for both direct and cross examinations of prosecution “witnesses” when I had already put all my focus on defense strategy. The
