PRHS Mock Trial team competes at SLO Court Houses

Despite valiant efforts, the PRHS Mock trial team was unable to triumph over their competitors at their four competitions, two of which took place on Jan. 30, one on Feb. 3, and another Feb.4.

The team competed against Central Coast New Tech, Templeton High School, San Luis Obispo High School, and Atascadero High School. In their early competitions, the score gap was .07 but decreased to .02 in their final match. Even though the team went 0-4, they improved markedly and will be receiving two individual awards.

This is the first year PRHS has had a mock trial team compete. To prepare for competition, the team met twice a week during the beginning of the season, and as competition began to loom increased to three times a week, meeting for an hour and a half after school.

“I really enjoyed the feeling of being in a court and actually seeing people yelling, ‘objection! My witness is being badgered!’ I felt like I was an actual lawyer. It felt pretty cool,” said junior Maddy Owens, who took on the role of a defense lawyer in the trial.
“Our students really rose to the occasion and really put every effort into it, even though it was their first year. They didn’t know as much as some of the other teams, but I feel like we really held our own,” said English teacher Janice Hoy, who is the co-coach of the team along with history teacher Seth Draine.