Congratulations to our American Heritage Schools, Palm Beach Campus, Mock Trial Team and the team’s coaches for their impressive win at the Florida High School Mock Trial Competition! They won the 15th Circuit Competition last month before participating in the state finals. They will be advancing to the National High School Mock Trial Competition soon! A round of applause for their accomplishment!

 

 

The 2022 State of Florida Mock Trial Competition Finals took place from March 31 to April 4th. The 16 schools in the finals represented the 16 Circuits from all 20 Judicial Circuits in Florida. The team competed in four preliminary rounds then qualified for the fifth and final round. During the awards ceremony on Monday, April 4th, the AHS Palm Beach Mock Trial Team was announced as 2022 State Mock Trial Competition Champions! Madison Smith also won the Top Attorney award. 

 

 

What made it even more exciting is learning that AHS was the only team to have won ALL the rounds during the entire tournament! 

 

The entire team did a phenomenal job and they are proud to represent American Heritage Schools and Florida at Nationals!!!

 

1. Ainsely Meyer

2. Jonah Samara

3. Anna Shullman

4. Madison Smith

5. Alexis Nguyen

6. Sophia Reynoso

7. Sara Shim

8. Matthew Hinds

9. Emberlynn St. Hillaire

10. Bryan Li

11. Rebeca Lopez-Anzures

 

 

“We value preparation, discipline, and team harmony; it is our priority to foster a healthy, productive, fun, and ethical learning environment for our students, who we envision will be future leaders of our country,” said Ani Porter, team advisor.

 

The Florida High School Mock Trial Program was designed in 1991 by Annette Boyd Pitts and former Florida Bar Executive Director, Marshall Cassedy. Hundreds of student participants have graduated, attended law school, and become members of the Florida Bar or other state bar associations.

 

 

Students learn critical thinking skills, legal reasoning, analysis, and professionalism, in addition to the structure and function of the courts and the legal process. The Florida program is sponsored by the Justice Teaching Center for Civic Learning and is named in honor of JTC'S founder, R. Fred Lewis.

 

Originally, the Mock Trial competition was held at the county level, but when the competition got too large, judicial circuits were implemented and one team from each circuit advanced to represent that circuit at the state level competition. With 20 judicial circuits, a maximum of 20 teams advance to the state finals. The winning state team is eligible to represent Florida in the National High School Mock Trial Championship.