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Students participate in mock trial at Duquesne University

Mock trial at Duquesne University
Heather Pelat

Twelve North Hills High School students participated in a mock trial earlier this month at Duquesne University’s School of Law.

A mock trial is a competition where students simulate a real trial, acting as attorneys and witnesses in a hypothetical case, learning about the legal system and developing crucial skills like public speaking, critical thinking and teamwork.

It has been several years since North Hills High School has had a mock trial team. Barbara Foster, a Gifted teacher at the high school, said she was approached by a group of students looking to start a mock trial team last year and they began meeting this past October.

The students participated in the Duquesne competition as a practice of sorts for district playoffs next month and both North Hills’ prosecution and defense teams won their cases.

On Monday, Feb. 3, the defense team will compete at the city-county building in a real courtroom. The prosecution team will compete on February 12. Both sides must win for North Hills to qualify for the playoffs later in February.

Congratulations and good luck to the our participants: Seniors Madalynn Dembrowski and Tanner Grigley, juniors Connor Galbraith and Annika Spear, sophomores Wesley Humphreys, Talina Nguyen, Matthew Peck and Asher Stiffey, and freshmen Willa Dickinson, Claudia Drake, Grace Sparbanie and Julia Torok.

Eleven of the 12 participating North Hills students are GATE students but that is not a requirement to join the mock trial team.

The Pennsylvania Bar Association Young Lawyer Division High School Mock Trial program is one of the largest in the country with more than 290 high school student teams from across the state. The winning team each year goes on to represent Pennsylvania in the national competition.