LOLHS Mock Trial Team:

The Lyme-Old Lyme High School Mock Trial team competed on Wednesday, December 12th against a team from Valley Regional High School at the Middletown Courthouse.  The team competing was the Defense half of the team comprised by lawyers Connor Wyman, Sarah Hayward, and Kellie Sablone.  The witnesses for the defense team were Ava Berry, Jack Manthous, and Kate Cheney.  The students are required to prepare a defense and prosecution of a case in preparation for the competition which involves months of long hours and hard work, all overseen by their coach, LOLHS Social Studies teacher, Sarah Hylas.  The competition is a practicum of law but also  part theater. The students demonstrated their expertise of courtroom procedures and developed their roles into believable characters which can make one feel as if they are, in fact watching a real courtroom trial.  The students not only walk in with a rehearsed plan but must also be able to improvise and respond to the other team’s actions, all  while remaining in character.  The entire “trial” is overseen by a real-world judge or lawyer who then uses a rubric to score each students’ performance, leading to a team’s overall score.  Unfortunately the scores are not immediately released but as a person watching this particular competition, it is my opinion as a former Mock Trial coach that the team from LOLHS is a hand’s down favorite.  The students did an outstanding job and were commended by the judge, a real-world lawyer at the state level as well as the President of the High School Mock Trial competition.  He specifically highlighted the performance of Kate Cheney as the best performance of her particular role that he has seen.  Congratulations to the students who competed and their coach, Mrs. Hylas.  The other half of the team, the Prosecution, will be competing Wednesday, December 19th, again in the Middletown Courthouse. 
                                       Way to go Mock Trial Team!