Mock Trial is challenging enough on a normal basis but this year's virtual competition has made it extraordinary. Seventy-eight OHS students have been studying this year's Ohio Center for Law-Related Education Mock Trial case involving an individual's 14th Amendment right to due process. OHS began the process with 10 strong teams named after Marvel characters; however, this year's virtual competition allows only three teams per school to be "sent" to District competition at the end of January.
After four tough rounds of competition, the OHS teams moving on to Districts are Team Thor, Team Deadpool, and Team Hulk. In each case, students portray defense and prosecution attorneys and witnesses and argue the case before a panel of judges and a "Best Attorney" and a "Best Witness" are selected.
Winning Best Attorney Awards in the tournament competition are: Best Attorney: Lyla Berns (3x), Kamille Giles-Watkins, Kerry Kelly, Mia Peterman, Aidan Stearns, Daniel Suh (2x), and Mira Swirsky. Best Witness: Xavier Arnold, Ben Frey, Maya Korland, Rose Martyn, Jaden Polster, Elana Rubanenko (2x), Taylor Silverstein, Emma Snyder-Lovera, and Skyler Weisenberg.
The virtual District Competition will be held on January 28 and 30, with selected teams moving on to Regionals in February and the State competition in March. Orange has had teams in the State competition for more than a dozen years, but the 2020 competition was canceled as the OHS teams arrived in Columbus because of the pandemic.
This year's OHS Team Advisors are David Chordas, Jessica Fairchild, Dena McSweeney, and Megan Petronsky. Legal Advisors include Aleks Chojnaki, Scott Heasley, Chuck Jarrett, Jeffrey Leikin, Jeff Saks, and Jeff Ubersax.
The Ohio Mock Trial program challenges students to learn more about the intricacies of the criminal justice system and teaches them to study and question the practices within the American justice system to gain a deeper understanding of how it operates.
We wish teams Thor, Deadpool, and Hulk the best of luck at Districts!
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View photos below or check out all of the team photos by clicking here.
Team Deadpool
Team Hulk
Team Thor
Members of the Deadpool in masked, practice session
Published on 1/21/2021
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