Five local middle school mock trial teams headed to state competition

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Linn County Courthouse in Cedar Rapids was buzzing with activity on Saturday as 22 teams from the Cedar Rapids and Marion areas filed in to hold court as part of the regional middle school Mock Trial competition.

After a full day of making their cases - each team competed once as the plaintiff and once as the defense in a fictional civil case regarding a death during an obstacle course race - the five teams with the most points have earned the opportunity to move on to the state competition in Des Moines in two weeks. Local attorneys and judges served as the scoring judges for each case, ranking students on their teamwork, public speaking skills and knowledge of judicial practices and procedures.

It was announced that one team from Harding Middle School, one team from McKinley Middle School, two teams from Franklin Middle School and one team from Regis Middle School are headed to the state competition.

Also competing were teams from Marion Home Schools and Taft Middle School.

Abigail Green, an eighth-grader on the Harding Middle School team headed to state was very excited.

'I love mock trial because it really helps with memorization and learning other things at school,” she said. 'Today was awesome and now that we know we are going on to state it feels really good because we've worked for this for a while.”

Green's teammate Elizabeth Bagby agreed.

'All our hard work has paid off. We are super excited and happy for our whole team,” she said. 'I've met some of my coolest friends through Mock Trial and this experience makes me think this is something I'd want to do for a living some day.”

Regis Middle School eighth-grader Justin Scherrman and his teammates are headed to the state competition as well.

'It feels great to be headed to state again,” he said, noting his team was at the state competition last year. 'There is a little bit of pressure with previous teams from Regis having done so well at state. But I feel like our team can really step up and do well.”

Regional coordinator and Regis Middle School coach Jim Efting was pleased with how the day went.

'It was a really competitive group of teams,” he said, noting that each year they get between 20 and 25 teams to compete at the regional competition. 'All the teams were really well prepared”

Efting is grateful to all the coaches and parents who help make the program possible, but was especially thankful for the volunteer judges and attorneys.

'This year, we had our biggest outpouring of volunteer support from the Linn County Bar Association,” Efting said. 'It's great to have these local attorneys and judges come and volunteer their time and offer positive feedback and comments for these students on a Saturday.”

Linn County District Court Judge Mary Chicchelly was impressed to see more than 200 middle school students spending their Saturday at the competition.

'These days, kids have all kinds of options for extracurricular activities, many of which are sports or music related,” Chicchelly said. 'Mock trial gives them the opportunity to know and understand the law and our judicial system. They have to think on their feet and they really get to know about what we do here at the courthouse. I'm hopeful that because of this experience some of them will decide to become attorneys or judges some day.”

Jones County Magistrate Judge Kristofer Lyons agreed and said he was especially pleased to be involved in the event as he participated in mock trial from middle school up through college and has served on the board of the American Mock Trial Association that sets the rules for the competition.

'It's great to see the kids showing an interest in this type of thing at their age. It's not an easy thing to do and they really did a fantastic job,” he said. 'And it's fantastic to be in the courthouse because it gives students a better experience than any classroom setting could.”

This was the first time the event was held at the Linn County Courthouse since the flood of 2008 and it was evident that all the students, coaches and volunteer lawyers and judges were thrilled to be back in that space. Several organizers mentioned how grateful they were to the Linn County Board of Supervisors for recognizing the importance of this event and allowing it to happen at the courthouse once again.

'It was really nice to be back here at the courthouse,” Efting said. 'It's a beautiful building and it gives a more authentic experience to the whole day.”

Efting said only six states in the country host middle school mock trial competitions.

'I tell people all the time that if they came down to the courthouse today and saw these middle school students perform they would be astounded,” Efting said. 'To see their decorum is really impressive.”