It’s a brisk winter day, and everyone in Mock Trial is waiting for the case to come out. The case coming out officially kicks off the season, and then preparation starts for regionals. This year the case will be criminal which means that there’s a big crime being committed instead of a civil case about someone suing their neighbor, and that has students excited.

“I’m really excited for this coming season, because this year is a criminal case instead of a civil one like last year, and those are way more fun, the witnesses get to build a lot more character,” Reyna Roach ‘24 said. 

The City High mock trial team has been a force at City High for some time. It’s been under the coaching of Jason Schumann and Chip Hardesty, teachers at City, as well as volunteer coaches, many of whom are local lawyers. 

“[Our program’s success has] really all been because of our amazing volunteer coaches, the students, and of course their parents,” Schumann said.

Schumann has some big goals for the program this year.

“I think the big goal is probably to get at least two teams to place in the top ten at state this year, it would really just show the strength of this program as a whole,” Schumann said.

The students have also set some strong goals themselves, particularly for the outgoing seniors.

“Our goal is really just to get as far as we can. For us, it’s our last year, so we really want to make it count,” Roach said.

These goals are also very big for the junior team, who placed 8th at the state competitionlast year.

“I think our goal is to get into the top 4 at state,” Rachel Matel ‘25 said.

Matel believes Mock Trial is a fun activity partly because of the program’s strength.

“When I joined as a freshman, my team was amazing. We have a lot of fun and work really well together,” Matel said.