The verdict is in: Abington Heights High School’s mock trial team is the best in the United States.
The team won the 2024 National High School Mock Trial competition in Delaware on Saturday, capping off an undefeated season and a state championship.
“All of our hard work, all the energy that we put into this, the trust that we built with our team, everything… paid off in the end,” senior Serena Mokhtari said. “And everything that we did, it was worth it.”
This is the first time a team from Pennsylvania has won the national championship. In mock trial, the teams are given details of a case, and the prosecution, defense and witnesses prepare for their parts for months. Once teams qualify for nationals, they receive a different case and have five weeks to prepare.
The national championship case was about a celebrity CEO being sued because shareholders lost their money when the company went bankrupt. Many of the students want to be lawyers, but those who don’t say the skills, such as public speaking and critical thinking, are important for any profession. Teachers Jen Tarr and Amy Kelly serve as coaches, and attorneys Dan Cummins and Jody Healey provide legal expertise. Anne Cummins is the performance coach.
Members of the team practiced so much that sometimes they left school only because the custodial staff was ready to set the alarms for the night.
“We were here almost every day after school, weekends, too,” said team captain Maddie Herold, a senior. “We had long weekend practices.”
And the work didn’t end there. The students also practiced at home, explained senior Dane Huggler.
“I've played multiple sports throughout my whole life, but this is definitely the hardest and most work driven activity or sport that I've done,” he said.
After beating Tennessee, North Carolina, Kentucky and Indiana, the Abington Heights team faced Texas on Saturday evening in a courtroom inside the Leonard L. Williams Justice Center in Wilmington, Delaware. Along with the team victory, Maddie received the overall outstanding witness award, and Aidan Lam was named overall outstanding attorney.
A police escort met the team’s bus on Sunday, blaring sirens through the Abingtons as the team made its way back to the high school.
The students will be guests of President Joe Biden on Memorial Day weekend for a special White House breakfast in their honor.
Tarr said the dedication, kindness, humility and teamwork shown by the students was inspiring.
“We are so proud of them because yes, they won nationals, and that's an incredible thing to do,” Tarr said. “But we're proud of them because of the people that they are and how they did it.”
