CCS Mock Trial Team Headed to State Competition

Covenant Classical School to Represent Fort Worth in State Mock Trial Competition

For the sixth year in a row, Covenant Classical School won first place in the regional High School Mock Trial competition in Fort Worth. Covenant Classical School team members also won both of the individual awards at the competition on January 18.

Covenant Classical School will advance to the State High School Mock Trial Competition, to be held March 1-2 in Dallas. At the state competition, Covenant will face the best teams from each of the 28 regions around Texas.

Covenant freshman Kinlie Gililland and sophomore Grace Burgess tied for the Best Advocate award, and freshman Emma Clifton won the Best Witness award. Also on the team are junior Hannah Hogue, sophomores Ellie Barber, Madelyn Hornell and Callen Smith, and freshmen Nate Bennett, Rachel Jageman, and Elise Kilmer. Local attorneys Josh Burgess, Scott Fredricks, and Rachel Dalton volunteered their time to provide legal coaching for the team.

“As a classical Christian school, our students are used to rigorous work done for the right reasons. They delight in applying their faith as thinking Christians who want to make a positive difference in their generation,” said Eric Cook, Head of School.

The Mock Trial competition is sponsored by the Eldon B. Mahon Inn of Court. In Mock Trial, students are issued the same case in the fall and prepare to argue the case from both the plaintiff and defense position. Three attorneys from one school are pitted against three attorneys from another school. Each team presents three witnesses who have mastered their character’s deposition and must realistically portray that character in court. Local attorneys and judges serve as jury members and judges for the competition.

Student attorneys use an abbreviated form of the Federal Rules of Evidence to object and respond; courtroom protocol must be followed to introduce evidence and impeach witnesses. Students from each side are also required to present opening and closing statements. This year, the students argued a criminal case involving a computer hack at a hospital.

Covenant Classical School is a classical, Christian K-12 school located in west Fort Worth.

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