Congrats to the Henrico High School mock trial team, which placed second at the recent major international “Empire Mock Trial” competition! The Henrico team was the only team from Virginia selected to participate. The students competed in five trials at the end of September and came close to winning the entire competition. Junior Aahil Pallath was named the second best attorney out of all Empire Mock Trial competitors. Empire team members are: Nia Boyd, Kaeo Burgess, Layla Childress, Faith Dixon, Sevashtiana Emile, Aahil Pallath, Rochan Sonti, Shaan Patel, Srinithi Venkatesan, Samyuktha Venkatraman. Want to watch the team’s big day? Go to https://www.facebook.com/EmpireFamily/videos/878181422901113.”This is a great continuation of the success of last year’s team, which was crowned the state champion in March 2021,” said Kristin Walinski, the team’s coach. “Only one of those students is still competing, while the others graduated. This was supposed to be a rebuilding year, but we are way ahead of schedule.” We wouldn’t be where we are without the tremendous support of our teacher-sponsor, Greg Lyndaker, and the school administration, including Rob Welch and Karin Castillo-Rose.” You can also find out more about the competition at https://empiremocktrial.org/. Empire Mock Trial aims to educate students by giving them the opportunity to:- Acquire knowledge and build skills fundamental to citizenship.- Learn about the inner workings of the legal system and bedrock Constitutional principles, such as due process and the presumption of innocence.- Learn how to separate fact from opinion and how to craft a compelling argument.- Study pressing issues of our time and consider how our laws interact with them, such as white nationalism and police brutality.- Learn how to speak publicly, think critically, argue extemporaneously and collaborate effectively by preparing and litigating their case.