Chapel Hill’s mock trial team made it to the North Carolina (NC) state finals competition. The team, Chapel Hill High School Gold, lost to Central Carolina Homeschoolers during the competition March 10 and 11.
The competition, hosted by NC Advocates for Justice and the Carolina Center for Civic Education, intends to “educate North Carolina high school students about [the NC] system of justice and trial by jury,” according to its website.
Gold qualified for states by winning the Pittsboro regional competition February 3. Team captain and senior Lena Cohen said this victory was an important step in the team’s journey to the state finals.
“Regionals definitely prepared us,” she said. “No matter how much you prepare with the team, when you get to states it’s completely new people.”
Cohen also cited team coach Mark Kleinschmidt, a former mayor of Chapel Hill, for helping with their legal studies and terminology.
Participants in the state finals were graded on their pre-trial research, voice while presenting, eye contact with audience and jurors, authenticity of presentation, decorum and strength of prosecution and defense. At the end of the competition, each team’s total scores were tallied up.
Junior Rachel Broun noted that points are sometimes taken off for controversial reasons.
“I [have been] called aggressive and combative [for] crossing a witness like a witness should be crossed,” she said.
As a witness, competitors could also get points taken off for saying something inconsistent with their affidavit (a written statement of evidence). Cohen said she has seen this happen multiple times.
Gold prepared for this competition by hosting weekly practices throughout the year, starting September 1 when they received their first case. Broun said the preparation and subsequent competitions could be stressful for the team.
“Regionals is high stress,” she said, “but none of us really expected to win [states]. It was getting to states and winning regionals that mattered.”
Since Central Carolina Homeschoolers won last year’s national championship, Cohen said, they were expected to win states since before the competition. However, Cohen believes Gold accomplished its goal.
“Our emphasis was really on having good rounds of mock trial that were competitive. I think we did that,” she said. “Our last two rounds of states were really competitive.”
Three Chapel Hill seniors received awards at states: Cohen and Alec Caruana both won Best Witness, and Yasmin Frischemeier won Best Attorney.
State victors Central Carolina Homeschoolers will compete in the mock trial national championship May 10-12 in Reno, Nevada.
