From one of our Mock Trial Team Parents:
“I am writing to share some of the wonderful accomplishments of your Henrico High School Mock Trial team.
This group of then-sophomore students founded the club in 2018, and in their first year, they finished 5th and 7th in the state as result of their hard work and perseverance and dedicated coach. This is an incredible accomplishment for a new mock trial team.
They didn’t stop there. They applied for a national competition called Empire in New York, where you have to be invited to compete. Not only did they get accepted, but they also funded the trip by applying for and receiving an innovation grant from the Henrico Education Foundation—and they received the highest grant amount awarded for that year. The Foundation has been filming competitions and practices to use them as a model for their other grants and solicit additional donations for the Foundation. In addition, the coaches of the team that won the Empire competition (a team from California) were so impressed with the girls that he personally recommended and got my daughter, Christine Guarnieri, accepted to an elite 1 vs. 1 mock trial competition called Gladiator in California this summer.
Now, the teams have been working three or four days a week after school, 8 hours on every Saturday, and many Sundays to prepare for states after sweeping regionals (their three teams finished first, second, and third). They are a pocket of excellence at Henrico High School that should be celebrated. The club started with all IB students, but now it has participation from non-IB students as well. Last year there were two teams; this year there are three, and more students want to join.
The state competition is at the City of Richmond courthouse all day on March 21st and 22nd. A number of Henrico students will also be volunteering to assist in running the competition. Henrico has a real shot at winning it all and going to the national competition in Indiana this year.”
GO TEAM!!!!!!!!!