The Camas High School (CHS) Mock Trial team has made a major turnaround in their record compared to last year, earning third place at the Clark County district tournament and qualifying for the state competition.

The team competed at the Clark County Courthouse in Vancouver against 10 other schools, with the top three advancing to the state tournament.

“This is my first year and, as long as I’ve been at the school, we hadn’t gone to state,” senior Aiden Howell said. “Last year we finished dead last. There were 10 teams this year, and we actually finished third, and the top three go to state.”

Mock Trial is a competitive academic club that simulates courtroom trials. Students must take on roles, like witnesses and attorneys, while presenting a mock legal case to judges. Attorneys deliver opening statements, cross examinations, and closing arguments, while witnesses must memorize and act during their questioning from opposing teams.

Senior Olivia Steele joined Mock Trial at the beginning of this school year to explore her interest in law and improve her public speaking skills, similarly to many other students.

“I initially joined Mock Trial because I’ve loved learning about the law since I was little,” Steele said. “I really want to be involved in a club where I could meet new people and help pursue my dream of becoming a lawyer.”

Preparing for competition requires extensive preparation and coordination between team members. In addition to regular Wednesday practices, the team held extra rehearsals leading up to the district tournament.

“We mainly had meetings every Wednesday,” Steele said. “Then we started doing meetings on Sundays where we rehearsed full simulations of persecution and defence. We practiced opening statements, closing arguments and pretrial motions so everything would be memorized.”

Another senior on the team, Reagan Sheffield, served as a defense attorney and focused on the pretrial motions for the district tournament, where she had to argue what evidence should be admitted in the case.

“A lot of preparation went into the case,” Sheffield said. “I reread the witness statements multiple times and marked them up thoroughly, I probably changed my speech about 10 times.”

Sheffield, along with other teammates, agreed that winning all of her pretrial motions during the district tournament was one of the highlights of the experience.

Mock Trial adviser Sean Tamura said that the team improved significantly in the final weeks leading up to districts.

“To be blunt, about a week and a half before the tournament, I didn’t expect we would make state,” Tamura said. “But we held two long rehearsals before districts, and the team made a ton of progress”

The CHS team that placed third in state is made up of 15 members who work together to present the defense and prosecution sides.

The state tournament will take place March 20 to March 22 at the Pierce County Courthouse up in Tacoma, where teams all across Washington will compete. Despite challenges in preparation for the competition and raising enough funds to go, team members remain confident and motivated.

“I believe in us wholeheartedly,” Steele said. “I think we all work really hard, and if we keep practicing, we’re going to do amazing.”