"You did a good job. However, hmmm I would have to say you seemed to know your case and the material... umm too well. You were too smart. Also, that made you seem mean. So, work on that."

I was at a complete loss of words.

First, here is the context. I am a high school senior at an all-girls high school. I am a lead attorney on my school's varsity Mock Trial team. Let it be noted that I go to the only all-girls high school in my state, and, therefore, I am on the only all-girls Mock Trial team in the state. My team had just beat out a rival school and won the case; we were thrilled and extremely proud. I can picture my [tough-to-please] coach sitting in the back corner of the courthouse giving us the slyest, yet most genuine, smirk of pride in us, his team. There were multiple judges sitting in on the case and scoring us, and they were all given time for feedback.

The feedback we received: we were "too smart" and "mean."

It took less than a second to recognize the blatant sexism in these remarks, and I was not the only one.

I immediately walked over to my coach who sensed our increasing anger with the feedback and stated, "I'm sorry. A lot of times judges like to call female attorneys mean. It is wrong."

Next to my coach was my mom, who had decide to come watch. She looked my in the eye and told me, "He would have never said that to a man."

They were both right.

There are 31 million girls in the world who will never get to attend primary school. There are another 34 million girls in the world who will never get to attend secondary school. Two-thirds of the 774 million illiterate people in the world are female. (Source: UNESCO) Yet, here I am, given the incredible gift of education, being called "too smart." Who decided there was even such a thing as "too smart?" In this context especially, is it bad if an attorney knows his or her case "too well?" Isn't that what clients want from their attorneys? Would a male, practicing attorney ever look a male high school student and wanna-be attorney and tell him he is "too smart?"

Considering the fact that I stuck to my extremely professional script and dialect, rarely changed my facial expression from its neutral state, kept my voice at a normal conversational level, and stood still with my hands folded in front of me, I left puzzled at how I could have come off as mean. This was also the exact same behavior that each member of my team displayed. As far I was concerned, I had done an amazing job and performed exactly how my coach would have liked: confidently and intelligently. Because isn't that would our justice system would hope for in future attorneys?

At the end of the day, I was completely offended and bothered by the sexist comments said on this day. However, what bothers me even more so is that this man was probably unaware of the underlying sexism in the way he spoke to my team and I. So many offensive remarks are said everyday all around us, yet everyone turns a blind eye to the blatant bigotry dialect. Why? I think conversations like this are hard to have. No one wants to be the "nag" who points out the sly sexism while their friend is talking. It is not fun, but it must be done. And I wish, with my whole heart, that world was not like this.

We need to hold each other accountable for our words because if we don't, our words turn into actions, which turn into a culture. Let us not only empower girls, but every single human, no matter their gender, race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, age, or educational background. Let us encourage each other to strive for greatness and be "too smart" in everything we do.