Whiz Kid: Kristin Gustafson

Cleveland Heights Whiz Kid of the Week: Kristin Gustafson

• Eighth-grader at
• Won “Outstanding Witness” award at the Mock Trial competition two years in a row
• Plays flute in band, an instrument she’s been mastering for six years

Murder and manslaughter. Those were the charges against her.

It’s a tough rap to beat, but Kristin Gustafson believed she had the charm and wit to thwart any lawyer’s line of questioning. Especially a 14-year-old lawyer’s questioning.

That was Kristin’s task at an April 14 Mock Trial competition, and she proved pretty successful, winning the Outstanding Witness award for her performance convincing two judges of her innocence.

“I could have cried, but I didn’t,” she said. “We’re just answering questions to a point and we’re just trying to relate to a judge, because there is no jury, so we have to get the judge to feel what we’re feeling.”

Students from opposing schools compete either on the defense or prosecution, which they know ahead of time. Cases come from novels, and in this case she played the main character from The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, a young adult novel about a 13-year-old girl accused of murder by the captain of a ship on its way from England to Rhode Island in the beginning of the 19th Century.

Kristin, 14, said she was given the questions she would be asked in advance and worked with the prosecution team from her school to figure out what she would say in response to those questions. The goal is to convince the two judges, who are either judges in real life or professional attorneys, of her innocence.

“It’s just memorizing the questions and trying to use body language,” she said. “Looking at the judges a lot helps so you can try to humanize them. They see you as human also and not just a murderer.”

That strategy won her the award for the second consecutive year. Participants at Monticello, who are all part of the Middle School Scholars Program for gifted students, have to audition for parts on the Mock Trial team. Although it requires an ability to act, Kristin said that’s not why she got involved.

“I don’t really act. This is the only acting I do all year,” she said. “It’s really fun because I really enjoy reading and I actually get to put myself in a character’s shoes, literally.”

Kristin has also been playing the flute for the last six years and plays the instrument in the school band.