CHS Mock Trial Team Prepares For Regionals
Hannah Rubenstein stands firmly on the courthouse floor, as she and her peers run through their case. Taken by Sophia Camp.
The intensity in the building has been heating up every night as the Community High School Mock Trial Team prepares for their regional tournament on Saturday, Feb. 27. This widespread competition is located in Oakland, Michigan, with a total of 24 teams participating from Ann Arbor and beyond.
The team has gone through many trials and tribulations in their time, and was formerly run by coach Cheryl Grace but now by Chloe Root. Mock Trial meets multiples times a week, meaning it is a rigorous activity for some members.“We build up practices. We start practices once a week and then we build it up to twice and then three days and then four days, so now we’re up to four days a week,” said Jasmine Chang, who has been a member of CHS Mock Trial for three years. However, the long practices are shown to have paid off years and years in a row, as Community’s Mock Trial Team has won many awards for their performances.
Many students have been participating in the after-school program. Something that draws many students to CHS Mock Trial is how professional yet exciting it is. “I’m really interested in stuff like the law, and right now I’m a lawyer and it’s really fun just to learn about the law, and actually apply it and use it,” said James Nedeltchev, a long-standing member of the beloved Mock Trial Team. “It feels really official, like it’s an actual trial, so it gives you actual experience, which is really nice, and it’s just really fun and it interests me.”
In fact, there is such a surplus of students that there is an A-Team and an B-Team. Both are competing in the regionals, and there is a bigger chance than ever that both teams will make it to finals, due to the new rule in place for this particular regional. “Since there’s so many teams in the regional, there’s going to be four teams that are moving on, as opposed to the one team that would move on from the Washtenaw County Regional,” Nedeltchev said. “There’s at least some chance that both Teams A and B will make it, since there’s extra spots.”
Promising results will follow if the team does well at Regionals. If they succeed, they will progress to States, and if they manage to do well at States they will then head to Nationals. All that is left is to wish the CHS Mock Trial Teams good luck in their last-minute preparations and performances. “I feel pretty good,” Nedeltchev said with a smile wide across his face. “I feel that we’re well prepared and I’m ready for the best.”
