OCSA’s Mock Trial Team competed at the state level this weekend after their recent Orange County regional championship win. The team accomplished something remarkable at the competition; they placed fourth in California, the best showing for an Orange County champion team in many years. This is the biggest accomplishment for OCSA’s Mock Trial Team since they began just 6 years ago.
OCSA Mock Trial team is composed of blue and gold teams with a total of 48 students in grades 9 through 12 who represent 10 of the school’s conservatories. These students participate in an application and presentation process at the beginning of the year in order to be accepted into the team. From there, they spend every Friday afternoon and every Saturday morning working independently and together until the end of competition season.
“I am so grateful every single day to be working with these students. They push me to be better, they push me to learn about all of these things as well. Their hard work makes me want to work harder. I’ve always said that I will do this as long as the kids want to be doing this,” Ms. Whitney Coates, Mock Trial coach and OCSA leadership instructor.
The team shows amazing dedication by committing their time and effort toward their goal of excelling in mock trial competitions. This year, students spent over 150 hours in meetings and practices to make this goal of competing at the state level a reality. This time spent with each other brought them closer together.
“My favorite thing about Mock Trial is the environment. It can be challenging and nerve-wracking to go about creating material in the beginning, but OCSA's team is so supportive and fosters a mentality of growth. We all help each other out and cheer each other on throughout the process. This team would not be what it is without the positivity, the fun, and the family we've become,” said Lead Trial Counsel Haley Kleinman (IA, ‘24)
Ms. Coates said that because the team was so close to being regional champions last year, they put a lot of pressure on themselves throughout this competition season. She said that last year the OCSA Mock Trial team were the underdogs, but this year they were considered “the team to beat.”
“I’m most proud of our resilience. Instead of letting our loss taint our next season, we used it as fuel. We remembered the devastation and reminded ourselves that, to never feel that again, we had to work twice as hard. So we did, and we agenged our loss and won the County Championship which was the best feeling in the world,” said Lead Trial Counsel Charlotte Brandman (MT, ‘23).
The team rose to the challenge and met their goal of becoming regional champions in last month’s competition with the help of Ms. Coates; and three very dedicated attorney coaches, OCSA parent and board member Halim Dhanidina, OCSA parent Melissa Brandman, and Ethan Feng. Charlotte Brandman (MT, ‘23), Tobias Izenberg (CW, ‘23), and Milo Karnes (IA, ‘24) also won Outstanding Attorney at the county level competition.
In addition to OCSA Mock Trial’s fourth place win, three talented individuals were honored for their participation in the event. Ms. Coates was announced Teacher Coach of the Year at the 2022-2023 Orange County High School Mock Trial Competition. Sabrina Aguilar (DM, ‘23) received the Courtroom Artist award at the county competition, and was also awarded first place in the state for her courtroom art this past weekend. Emy Pardo (MT, ‘24) also advanced to the state competition where she won the Outstanding Cleo Shafer Award for her portrayal of a witness character. The group will be celebrated at an awards ceremony in April.
Now, the OCSA Mock Trial team is celebrating their success and looking toward next year’s goals.
“The group that we have right now for our full Mock Trial Team is so committed and they’re so involved that it has been fantastic! We have a lot of really phenomenal new students on our teams this year, so we know the future of our program, even with all of our graduating seniors, is really, really bright,” Ms. Coates said.