Students from Genoa and Walnut Springs middle schools are pictured at the Middle School Mock Trial Competition, which was held at the Ohio Judicial Center in downtown Columbus.
The 2012-13 8th grade Mock Trial teams from Genoa and Walnut Springs middle schools participated in the State Showcase on Friday, April 12 at the Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center in downtown Columbus.
Each school competed in two trials, one with their defense team and the second with their prosecuting team. Walnut Spring’s defense team of co-counselors Erik Hynes and Logan Kocka, witnesses Wyndra Bair, Jason King and Nate Dumford and timer Robert McNitt competed in the first trial against Ridgeview Middle School in Columbus. Hynes won Best Attorney and King won Best Witness in that trial. The prosecution team of co-counselors Kelsey Cox and Carlee McAfee, witnesses Desmond Fernandez, John Hord, and Kaitlyn Wetta and Bailiff Nakia Olmsted faced the Arts Impact Middle School in the second trial. Fernandez was awarded Best Witness award in that trial.
Genoa’s prosecuting team co-counselors Emma Dyer and Sarah Hagglund, Bailiff Parker Rodgers, and witnesses Srihari Guatapalli, Katie Lueckel, and Claire Owens were pitted against Woodward Park from Columbus Public Schools. The defense team consisted of co-counselors Sebastian Bouscher-Helbig and Ty Bickham, timer Olivia Talamo, and witnesses Allison South, Abigail Steele, and Sydney Sweet. They competed against students from Independence Middle School in Independence, Ohio. Bouscher-Helbig won the Best Lawyer award for Genoa.
This is the first time Westerville City Schools middle school students have participated in this event. The students worked on this extra-curricular program for five months and were led by advanced social studies teachers Liz Stokes, Walnut Springs, and Ryan Borland, Genoa, with support from the Gifted Education and Social Studies Departments.
For more information on the Middle School Mock Trial sponsored by the Ohio Center for Law-Related Education, please visit http://www.oclre.org/middleschoolmocktrial/.