From Massachusetts to Miami: Transferring into MMT

By Kate Hunt, Class of 2021

This week, we’re thinking of everyone who will be coming to Oxford for one of the first few times in their lives. We love Oxford and know you will, too. So, we asked rising Senior Katie Hunt, a transfer student who found her home in Oxford, to reflect on her time at Miami and in MMT. 

As I enter my senior year at Miami and my last year with MMT, I find myself reflecting back on how I got here. For me, it was not a traditional journey, but it’s one that made my route so much sweeter.

Hunt at the 2019 National Championship Tournament

I spent my first year of college not as a freshman in Oxford, but as a first-year at Mount Holyoke College, a Seven Sisters school in South Hadley, Massachusetts. While there, I competed for the mock trial program at the University of Massachusetts. Around halfway through my spring semester, I decided that Mount Holyoke wasn’t for me and decided to transfer to Miami.

I won’t lie; transferring was a scary experience. I grew up in Ohio, but starting over in a new school in a different state without the programs designed for freshman to get acquainted with the university and meet people brought about some nervousness that August. I decided I wanted to join as many organizations as I could to really start off right at Miami. 

The first week of class, I came across a flyer in my dorm for Miami Mock Trial. It had photos of students giving statements to judges and juries, trophies galore, and what looked like solid groups of friends. Coming to Miami, I had previously heard once or twice their mock trial program was good, but I didn’t know any specifics. I wrote the time and date for an info session down and decided to learn a little about their program.

When I found the Mockhawks, I was intimidated. The competitors were highly decorated, the coaches were impressive, and the success statistics were astonishing. I discovered they had won the National Championship just the semester before. My team had taken maybe 2 ballots total at Regionals that semester. Ultimately, I decided I had nothing to lose going to an information session. I had always loved the activity and it couldn’t hurt to give it a shot.

The information session I attended was unlike any for a single other organization on campus. The competitors who spoke were professional, dedicated, and articulate. I was inspired. Coming in to this session, MMT was something I considered joining. Leaving, it was something I wanted to do more than anything I had seen at Miami so far. Even though I didn’t think I had much of a chance, I signed up for a tryout slot.

I will never forget my tryout. I was halfway through a paragraph of an opening statement when, looking out at a long table of coaches, I blanked. I completely lost my train of thought. I knew the worst thing I could do was stop speaking, yet I did. So I turned my back to them, composed myself, and turned back to start from the beginning. I remember Jaime, one of my two now-coaches who I have been with for my full two years, telling me I had a “nice recovery”. I remember saying something funny, having the witness portion of the tryout, and telling them a little about myself. When I walked out, I knew I blew it. The then-President of the program told me it was a good sign he heard laughter, but I knew cracking a joke wouldn’t make up for completely stopping in the middle of a statement. I told my roommate and my parents I didn’t have a shot.

As much as I didn’t want to let it get to me, it did. Though I had really only discovered the program a week or two earlier, I knew I wanted in. The way the competitors talked about their experiences made me want to experience not just the benefits of being part of a successful program, but also of having such a large group of people to have such a strong bond with. It was something bigger than me where I instinctively knew I could feel at home. As a transfer student, a program like MMT was everything I was looking for.

To my shock, I made the program and was welcomed by a person who would later become one of my best friends. The coaches took a chance and believed in me, as they have continued to do for the past two years. I have spent time with other organizations, but none of them were able to offer what I wanted quite like MMT. Here, I had an activity that would challenge my intellect, fuel my competitive side, give me something to work for, and introduce me to people to work toward our collective goals with. 

After joining, I discovered that along with those attributes, I would receive beyond what I expected. This program has also given me a sense of purpose. Because of my coaches and my teammates, I feel as though I have found a place that I truly belong to here at Miami, something I was missing from my previous school. That purpose has also led me on a path to my future, as I plan on beginning law school in the fall of 2021 after graduation. 

MMT has given me everything I looked for in an organization as a transfer student and so much more. I am so grateful to the coaches, my teammates, and the Legacy that I have been so lucky to be apart of for my three years at Miami.

Hunt, second from left, with teammates at the 2020 Geneva ORCS.

Katie Hunt’s story is clear that MMT is more than a competitive activity; it’s a family that provides a sense of home to every one of its members. That’s what makes the Legacy special. Is you want a shot at joining the Legacy and MMT, read more here.