Oregon State University has a large following for clubs and student organizations. While many of these clubs have large followers and often smaller groups from there create often strongest impacts and have a sense of belonging.

NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) at OSU and the OSU Mock Trial Team are two clubs that are different in their missions and communities, as one focuses on mental health advocacy and peer support while the other builds teamwork and critical thinking through legal competition, yet both show how smaller, purpose driven groups can make a lasting difference on campus.

NAMI club at OSU 

A new support-focused community for student mental health is a fairly new organization that is focused on building a supportive environment to openly discuss their mental health and feel connected to one another on campus. 

Club leaders and officers say they are working to reduce stigma, increase visibility for mental health resources, and encourage students to take care of their well-being. 

In its early stage, NAMI is prioritizing activities that help students de-stress, learn, and feel uplifted.

Pranathi Vallabhu, NAMI club’s president and a senior at OSU shared her experience in an email.

“I heard about NAMI through looking for volunteer opportunities related to mental health care a few months ago. As an aspiring psychiatrist, I appreciated what NAMI was doing to make mental health resources and support more accessible as mental healthcare is often not (accessible).” said Vallabhu.

Vallabhu shared that the club has plans to expand its reach and collaborate with the broader NAMI organization and bring educational programming to OSU students. This includes guest speakers, professional insights, and peer conversations relating to mental health challenges and support systems.

Club leaders and officers were asked about what NAMI really is and its similarity to CAPS (Counseling and Psychological Services) at OSU.

Lindsay Scales, NAMI’s Vice President, explained that CAPS focuses on treating mental health whereas NAMI prioritizes advocacy and awareness. 

“It is more education- and community-based,” said Scales.

“(NAMI) is a grassroots, nonprofit organization that advocates for education, support, and public awareness around mental health.” said Jori Huhn, a 4th year psychology major, and club leader

The general club members say the club offers comfort and understanding for students who may not feel safe or ready to seek therapy. With a focus of support and connection, NAMI did get quite few positive responses from their overall club members to get a safe space to share about each other’s mental health struggles

“From the moment I walked in, I felt really welcomed… writing encouraging notes for students felt uplifting,” said Kat Dizon (Design major, Freshman).

NAMI leaders say they hope to continue to grow and help students feel less alone in their mental health journeys. The club meets every Thursday, 6-7 at Memorial Union.

Mock Trial club at OSU

Mock trial at Oregon State University was established to empower students to step into a simulated courtroom and sharpen their communication skills and also critical thinking skills. The student organization is led by co-presidents Deenesh Koshrabi, a senior majoring in Liberal Studies, and Kaylee Mcguire, a junior majoring in Political Science. The club strives to expand and attract students from all over majors at Oregon State.

“Mock Trial is basically a simulated court proceeding. We get a new case, criminal or civil, at the beginning of the year,” said McGuire. “We have teams of six to ten people, and we play the roles of either an attorney or witness.”

The presidents reported that the club has around 40 active members, attending the meetings regularly too which is also a significant increase from previous years.

“When I joined the club, there were maybe 10 people,” said Koshrabi. “The more we’ve started to market it, the more people we see are interested in coming.”

“We probably had around 80 people sign up at Club Fair,” McGuire said.

Although active participation is encouraged to have a meaningful impact and for enthusiasm to continue to be built too.

Looking back to when OSU Mock Trial was established, roughly over a decade ago the club was introduced, the organization experienced a short hiatus too and a brief pause during COVID-19, before it became fully re-established around four years ago. Today, it is once again very much active and a highly engaged student-led organization.

Members get experience in public speaking, creative argumentation, reading comprehension and find clues and perform legal analysis. The president suggested that these abilities could be useful in many fields.

“It teaches you how to articulate your own thoughts and arguments, which is incredibly important,” said Koshrabi.

“It gives people a way to advocate and understand the game of perception in how facts are articulated,” said McGuire.

Mock Trial also offers a community for students outside OSU’s strong STEM focus.

“There are so many people who are interested in other things and would pursue those fields if they knew a lot about them,” said McGuire.

In their weekly meetings, they usually start with community building and introductions. 

“We teach people the mechanics of a courtroom, what trial looks like, where we’re going, what to expect,” McGuire said. 

Koshrabi added that they do not expect members to know what a case or trial is going to look like right away.

OSU Mock trial members travel to competitions as well, as competitions approach, meetings shift almost entirely to case preparation:

“Once we jump into competition season, it becomes 95 percent content,” McGuire said. “We keep rereading the case and perfecting our roles.”

Each year, all university teams across the country receive the same fictional case packet, including affidavits and witness testimony. Teams develop and argue their own case theories on both prosecution and defense.

OSU Mock Trial travels throughout the Pacific Northwest to compete against other universities. Recent and upcoming events include:

• University of Washington Invitational
• Gonzaga’s “Bulldog Brawl”
• University of Portland’s “Thornhill Invitational”
• Regional competition in February

Koshrabi confirmed that Mock Trial travels a lot across the pacific northwest. 

“We have a lot of math majors, chemistry majors. This is a STEM school,” said McGuire. “Some students are passionate about law as a personal interest rather than a career.”

“It is a very diverse pond of careers that people want to go into,” Koshrabi added.

Mock Trial remains a welcoming environment that promotes analytical and communication skills valuable in any profession.