Mock Trial is a high school competition where multiple schools compete against each other in a simulated trial. There are attorneys, witnesses, and other teams that perform in order to advance. Every role is scored between 1-10 on how well they perform, it is then added up for the team and whichever team has the highest amount of points wins. 

This year’s ALHS Mock Trial Team advanced and is going to state on March 31 in Des Moines. The conference lasts until April 1st and there will be 32 other teams that qualify that the team will compete against. 

Bryan Pregon has been the coach for 20 years and the ALHS team has only advanced to state a few times.

“Im excited because it’s pretty rare to get a team to qualify for state and that’s only happened a handful of times in the 20 years that I’ve been coaching,” Pregon said. “So getting a team to state is pretty rare and it’s pretty good, It’s a pretty big accomplishment.”

There are 9 students on Mock Trial ranging from sophomores to seniors. They practice twice a week–Thursdays they practice at the Pottawatomie courthouse and Fridays they practice at school. 

“It introduced me to a lot of new people, it’s a completely new experience and it’s just different then what I expected it to be,” Sophomore Quinn Burnett said. “I appreciate the people that are doing it and taking it as seriously as I do.”

Students such as Hunter Jones, Owen Burnett, Maria Perez, Nawal Mbura, Leopold Mbuyi, and Gabriel Vansickle received awards at the regional conference at Iowa Western for their outstanding performances. 

“Im excited about going to state for the first time in 3-4 years,” Junior Hunter Jones said. “I’m looking forward to seeing how much better the competition is because I know from a regional competition standpoint to a statewide standpoint when there is 32 other teams there that all won their region, it will definitely be a lot tougher.”