Mock Trial Team Headed to State (friscoisd.org)

Article published on Feb 22, 2021 at friscoisd.org

Congratulations to students from the Career and Technical Education Center who are headed to the Texas High School Mock Trial Championships competition in March.

This is the school’s fifth trip to the Region 10 finals in the last six years, and its second trip to state in that same time. The students in Benjamin Ewald’s CTEC Mock Trial class are one of three teams that will represent Region 10 and one of 24 teams that will compete at state.

Students have been preparing for the competition since October, logging in more than 200 hours of prep time between official Thursday practices, attorney and witness weekly preparation meetings and scrimmage matches.

This year’s trial competition was virtual and impacted everything from procedures to typical physical actions used during the trial process.

The competition entails representing either the prosecution or defense in a provided case. Three attorneys and three witnesses represent each school’s side. Each attorney has the opportunity to directly examine one of the witnesses and crossexamine one witness from the other team. Rounds are competitive and can take up to three hours, depending on how many objections are made.

At the conclusion, each match has three scoring judges who score their ballot to determine the winner of each match.

The CTEC Mock Trial Team was 5-0 after defeating five separate schools over two weekends of regionals.

“I am always proud of how our students compete in what is arguably the largest and most competitive region in the state for mock trial,” Ewald said. “Our region has produced the state champion approximately six to seven times out of every 10 in recent years.

“So for our team to have been to six out of the last eight regional finals and state twice in the last five years, I couldn’t be more proud of the effort shown.”

Centennial High School junior Prisha Mehta earned the overall Best Advocate award capturing eight of nine possible best advocate ballots and Lebanon Trail High School senior Evelyn Chew qualified as Best Witness for her incredible work as a witness for the prosecution.

At state, the students will compete in four rounds. If they are in the top four after the first two days of competition, they will continue in the competition with the opportunity to represent Texas at nationals in May.

Congratulations to all of the students moving forward to state who represent their team in various roles including three attorneys, six witnesses and one timekeeper. Keep up the great work!

• Nikitha Bolla, Wakeland High School
• Evelyn Chew, Lebanon Trail High School
• Kathryn Gable, Wakeland High School
• Diksha Krishna, Independence High School
• Nivedhithaa Manikandan, Independence High School
• Prisha Mehta, Centennial High School
• Thomas Michnevitz, Wakeland High School
• Adhithi Ramprakash, Centennial High School
• Mehek Randhawa, Wakeland High School
• Shira Silberman, Liberty High School

Article originally published on Feb 22, 2021 at friscoisd.org