The weekend of April 1 was an exciting time for FHN’s Mock Trial team. After preparing for months, they finally competed against many other teams from all over Missouri. 

“There were a lot of different trials,” Michael Fedorko, a sophomore member in his first year of mock trials, said. It was kind of difficult seeing a bunch of different schools like interpretations of different things. And, you know, it was different. Nothing was the same each time.”

The team competed in five trials in two and a half days at the East Jackson County Courthouse in Independence, Missouri. Although they were almost always put on the prosecution side instead of the defense, they never gave up.

“We never won any coin tosses, so we were just given whichever side,” Vanessa Ng, a freshman member of mock trials, said. “Usually most teams choose defense. So, I mean, not to say that we’re weaker as prosecution, but it’s just like it’s a little more difficult.”

Despite not having the advantage, the team won all of their trials. 

“I know that there’s never a good chance that you’re going to win State,” Ella Struble, a senior and captain on the mock trials team, said. “It’s just never something that you can kind of guarantee. But I was like, I think it’s possible. I think it’s possible that we might win.”

Now, the team is preparing to go to Nationals, where they will be competing against skilled teams from all over the world. 

“I’m always amazed by how skilled they get, how very good they get at being witnesses and attorneys,” Matt Struble, a retired attorney and now the FHN Mock Trial coach, said. “I often joke with students that I think they, you know, could go into a courtroom and probably fake it for a good long while before somebody might notice that they weren’t actually attorneys.”