Mt. Lebanon High School’s mock trial team advances to states second year in a row
For the second time in as many years, Mt. Lebanon High School’s mock trial team advanced to the annual state competition.
The state competition was held virtually over Zoom from March 24 through 26.
“It’s a lot of hard work and hours on (the students) to make it happen,” said Karina Montgomery, a high school social studies and mock trial club teacher. “Last year, we made it to the same point. The last two years … we’ve made it to the state tournament.”
Both this year and last, the team advanced to the second round of states, an accomplishment four months in the making.
“The PA Bar (Pennsylvania Bar Association) releases a case at the beginning of November every year,” Montgomery said. “They’re like 80 pages long of case materials. It gives you a kind of summary of what the case summary is. It was a murder case, so they were all over that.”
This year’s mock trial centered around the murder of a horse-racing industry leader’s rival at the leader’s mansion. Led by Montgomery, former social studies teacher Jessica Morgan and attorney advisers Brendan Conway and Traci Rea, the mock trial team spent nearly two hours after school two days each week, plus some Saturdays, putting together both the prosecution and defense for the case.
During practice, blue and gold teams’ participants took on the personas of lawyers and witnesses and practiced trial tactics, including cross-examinations and objections. The teams kicked off trial season at the Pitt Mock Trial tournament in January, where sophomore Felix Yang was recognized as a star witness.
In February, the blue team headed to regionals, where seniors Raafay Khan and Anna Mares; juniors Meredith Donoghue, Karina McCullough-Brown, Sam Noll, Lilly Nys, Scarlett Prendergast and Amy Tan; and Yang won the regional title alongside Eden Christian Academy.
Then, it was off to states.
“Especially after going to states last year, they had the bar set high. They were definitely excited to go to states,” said Montgomery. “(The school hangs) banners in the cafeteria for the teams when they win. They always have the sports teams, so they made a banner, a mock trial banner. They were all excited about it.”
State mock trials are scored by a judging panel that awards up to 10 points in various categories, including opening and closing arguments, examinations and public speaking skills. Scores are also given for how well teams know the case facts and how in-character students are during the mock trial.
Mt. Lebanon’s blue team came close to victory in the first round of states. Despite the loss, the team advanced to the second round, where they lost another close case.
Montgomery said she and her students’ parents watched the trial unfold over Zoom. Montgomery laughed that although the team could not hear her, she was cheering aloud the whole time.
“They thoroughly impressed me,” she said, adding she will lead the mock trial club again next year, when the team hopes to advance past the second round in states. “They play the part and they really sound like real attorneys. They’re all dressed professionally. It’s nice to see their hard work pay off.”