Last week marked the end of a very successful Mock Trial season at Adams High School. Teams swept regional competitions, won a plethora of best witness and attorney awards, and performed very well at the Indiana State competition. 

After much preparation on this year’s drama-filled murder case, all of the Adams Mock Trial teams competed in the Regional competition in late February, 2023. All except for two of the Adams teams competed in the South Bend Regional competition, where Adams sophomore team “Reasonable Doubt” placed second overall. The following weekend, the two teams that could not make it to the South Bend Regional date competed in the Hammond Indiana Regional competition. “For Da Gram”, junior team, placed first overall, winning every ballot from the three trials they played. The second place winners were “Pore Jon is Daid”, the Adams freshman team. 

These three Adams teams (“For Da Gram”, “Reasonable Doubt”, and “Pore Jon is Daid”) then  moved on to compete in the Indiana State Championship last weekend, March 11th and 12th. The state competition was held at the impressive Marion County Superior Court complex in Indianapolis, where teams competed in four trials in functioning court rooms. On Saturday, trials were held at 9:00am, 1:00pm, and 5:00pm. All teams competed in one more round on Sunday at 9:00am. This round was followed by an awards ceremony at 1:00pm, during which individual overall best witness and best attorney awards were awarded to outstanding team members. Awards were snagged by Adams students Ben McVeigh, Eavan Kelly, and Maeve O’Brian! The Mock Trial Junior team “For Da Gram” finished in 3rd place in the state, just barely missing the mark to compete in the 2:00pm finale, which was won this year by the Senior team from Trinity at Greenlawn. With “For Da Gram’s” senior year ahead of them, there is so much hope for a potential State championship victory next year. As part of the team, I know we are all hoping to make it to the 2024 Nationals as our last hurrah!  

The past few years have been a whirlwind with Mock Trial. Freshman and sophomore year were quite difficult since all competitions were done online, but this year, my experience was so positive. I thought being in a courtroom would be nerve-racking, but after so much practice and hard work that our team put in, the experience was so rewarding. From the long bus rides, to eating meals together, going to the mall, and competing for two days, it was all a great time! The competitions as well as the weekly practices and scrimmages were fun, and have helped me to improve my public speaking and memorization skills and to think on my feet and improvise. I have met some of my best friends through the Mock Trial program, and will be grateful for that forever. If you are coming into Adams as a freshman next year, or even if you are a rising sophomore or junior looking for an extracurricular to join next year, I highly recommend getting your friends together and starting a team because it’s a great learning experience and a really fun time!