On Saturday, February 8, Lightridge participated in its very first mock trial competition at an event sponsored by the Virginia Law-Related Education Institute. Students participated in an educational simulation of a real courtroom trial at Riverside highschool. Courtroom personnel roles are played by highschool students, with a prosecution and defense presenting their case to real judges. This year, the topic was a made up murder trial.

“It’s also my first time going to [a] mock trial,” said senior Bethlehem Delelegn, captain of the prosecution team. “I have to do extra research, watch a lot of videos to learn about it so I can help [my team]”.

Each team, the prosecution and defense had six people.

“I really loved my team, we really got to bond together,” said Delelegn,“and we did really good for our first time.”

Teams worked together to compete for placement in the mock trial.

Ashika Charan’s witness performance was notable, earning a second place standing as a prosecution witness. Overall, Lightridge ended up placing 15th out of 29 schools. Lightridge hopes to continue this as an annual tradition.