After school on March 7, the CHS mock trial teams — A Team and B Team — along with timers, alternates and a courtroom journalist, traveled from Ann Arbor to Grand Rapids, MI., for an overnight stay. The teams had one last run-through of the entire case that night. 

“I had a ‘this is it’ kind of realization,” said freshman Dylan Goldman, a competing member of the B team, as he reflected on how he felt during the run-through. “This is where months and months of practice, writing and everything was finally going to come to fruition.”  

The teams woke up bright and early the next morning. After over three months of preparation spent learning witness statements, memorizing objections and running through the case from start to finish, the day of the long-awaited mock trial regional competition was finally here. 

“When I woke up, I felt really nervous because I didn’t know how the competition was going to go,” Goldman said. “But as the day progressed, I sort of realized that this was going to be more fun than nerve-wracking. In the back of my head, I had this feeling that our teams were going to crush it.” 

The competition took place at numerous courtrooms at the Kent County Courthouse, and each team participated in three rounds of the case. During each round, the prosecution or defense side from one team is randomly paired up with the opposing side (prosecution or defense) from another team. On A Team, the defense side competed in the first round, and the prosecution side took the second and third rounds. On B Team, the prosecution side competed in the first round, and the defense side competed for the second and third rounds. 

Every round begins with an attorney from each side giving an opening statement and ends with an attorney giving a closing statement for both sides. During each round, three witnesses are called from the prosecution and three witnesses are called from the defense. Every witness is directly examined by an attorney on their own side before being cross-examined by an attorney on the opposing side. 

There are two people scoring from the jury box that are typically new lawyers or attorneys, as well as an experienced judge at the bench. The jury and judge grade each team based on numerous factors, including how well the witnesses portray themselves, how well the attorneys are at handling objections and how respectful teams are to the opposing side.  

“The judges that have a little bit of humor to them are usually the ones that are the best,” said junior Wilson Zheng, another competing member of the B team. “But then there are also the attorneys judging who are just straight-faced and super serious. Those judges are a lot harder to please and work with because they take everything too seriously.” 

After all three rounds took place, the 12 mock trial teams gathered to find out the results of the trials. Two of the teams from this regional competition would advance to the state competition with winners from every other regional across the state of Michigan. 

Neither team A nor team B advanced to states. However, both teams won an honorable mention, which is given to the two runner-ups who didn’t make it to states. 

“I feel glad that I get more time to myself now that we don’t have to prepare for states,” Zheng said. “But I’m also kind of sad for the A team because I feel like they were way better than us, but they got placed in the same range. I think there was just some really terrible luck with that.” 

Although the teams didn’t make it to states, it was a weekend to remember. Winning an honorable mention is a significant accomplishment that demonstrates the team’s commitment to hard work and teamwork and highlights the progress they’ve made throughout the entire season. But the journey doesn’t have to end here; this experience could serve as a foundation for even greater success next year.