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 e 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.