Shorewood High School's Varsity Mock Trial Team Wins State,
Advances to Nationals
In their thirteenth consecutive trip to the State Mock Trial Tournament, the Shorewood
High School (SHS) Varsity Mock Trial team competed and took home first place in the
State Tournament, which is only the third time in the school's history to achieve this
feat. The team will now be advancing to the 2016 National Mock Trial Tournament in
Boise, Idaho, May 13-15.
Mock Trial is an extracurricular that provides high school students with an opportunity
to act as attorneys and witnesses in a court case developed by State Bar members. The
students, placed in teams of six to 12 members, get to argue a criminal case before a
panel of volunteer attorneys and judges with the ultimate goal of perfecting their case
enough to make it to regional, state, and national competitions.
The road to State Champions was a hard and challenging one for the SHS Varsity Mock
Trial Team, as prep began way back in the fall. The 2016 JV and Varsity teams,
consisting of 22 students and two coaches, were decided by Thanksgiving and practices
began three times a week.
"The time commitment is huge," said Coach & SHS Teacher Debra Schwinn. "Right
from the start, we are practicing six hours a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and
Sundays. Though it's an intense schedule, the students who join are very passionate
about and interested in law, and the group becomes one of the closest knit teams
students will ever find [at SHS]."
The first big competition that the team worked up to was the Regional Tournament, a
State Bar of Wisconsin program that started in 1983. The competition took place on
Saturday, February 13, and 115 teams from 81 high schools traveled to courthouses
around the state to participate. Both SHS teams had spectacular performances and
ended up clenching first and second place in the competition, Varsity and JV
respectively.
From there, the SHS teams along with other regional winners advanced to the State
Semifinals in Madison on February 12, and after a long day of competition, the Varsity
team qualified for the State Finals on February 13.
"We were very well-prepared," said SHS Senior Will Sandy. "We kept track of what
worked at Regionals and what didn't work, and we focused on perfecting our crossexamination and refining our themes for our case...we spent a lot of hours preparing for
State."
This extra practice paid off in the end, as SHS took on Rhinelander High School in the
State Finals and beat them to clench the 1st Place trophy. "We were definitely in the
zone," said SHS Junior Balen Essak. "We were as ready as we could be and we felt really
good in the final round. It was definitely the best trial we have ever done."
The team is now full speed ahead with preparations for the National Tournament. They
will receive a new case on April 1st, and will begin prepping immediately. "If we are
going to Nationals, we are going to do it right," said Schwinn. "While this is uncharted
territory for us, we are super excited to be focusing on a new case and we are going to
put forth 100% effort."
In order to attend Nationals, the team must raise $12,000 to cover costs. Almost $9,000
has been raised so far but the team still has a way to go to reach their goal. If you are
interested in donating, please visit: https://www.gofundme.com/shorewoodmocktrial.