I’m not one for sappy thank-yous and showers of praise. I care about my friends, and I congratulate them on their successes, but I don’t like to talk about myself and what people mean to me. But with the advent of Miami Mock Trial’s recent National Championship win, I have to talk about what Miami Mock Trial has meant to me.

Coming into Miami Mock Trial this year, I didn’t know where I was in life. My dad had recently left, I had no friends that weren’t three hours away and even those were fading fast, and more than anything, I felt very alone. I tried out for the team because I had done it in high school. I had never really loved it, but for much of my awful four years there, it had been the only thing grounding me to any sense of reality. I figured I didn't have anything else to do with my time.

From the first week, I knew things would be different here. You accepted me with open arms, laughed at my uncomfortable jokes and made me feel like even though I had only known you all for a few hours that we had been friends my entire life.

I remember driving back from our team bonding camp in late September, less than a month after I joined the team, with four of my new teammates, having intricate discussions about the climate of education and masculinity in our country and giving each other relationship advice. We came to a traffic jam on a long country road halfway back to Oxford, and the driver rolled down the window letting the dusty Indian summer wind fill the car. As we sat there in the heat, waiting for the police officer half a mile ahead to wave us on, she turned on Taylor Swift and we all began to sing along.

As I sat there, battling pneumonia my doctor had told me only the previous day meant that I absolutely, unequivocally should not go on this retreat, pressed up against the left window by the two other people in the backseat with Taylor Swift’s “22” blaring over the radio, I knew I was happy.

I’ve been consistently blown away by the sheer enthusiasm everyone I’ve met has for the program, the activity and their teammates and by the amount of work I’ve seen everyone put into one of the most grueling extracurriculars ever. I would say you are all massively talented — and you certainly are — but I think to say that would be to ignore the countless hours of practice and repetition and effort you have given to the program to get to where you are now. Surely you are one of the most deserving teams in the nation, and I can’t think of a better group of people to win the Championship.

When I close my eyes, I can go right back to only a few weeks ago, sitting in the mock room with half of the program and watching over a live stream as the other half fought against Yale University for a National Championship in a Division III gymnasium in Minnesota. In the minutes before they announced Miami University as the winner, we all leaned in close together and held hands, and I knew that this victory wasn’t just for the eight members of the Nationals team — although you are certainly the true heroes of this story.

It was a victory for all 32 members of our program.

For all the coaches who worked tirelessly for months on end to bring us all to this point.

For the alumni who paved the path, acting as role models for the competitors who would eventually get us to this point.

And for the legacy of Miami Mockers to come who will continue the tradition of kindness, hard work and excellence that makes Miami Mock Trial the best Mock Trial program in the country.