by David Goodwin
This is only the second time that Ambrose has clinched the state championship in Mock Trial. Over the past 10 years, Ambrose has battled to the state finals eight times. Ambrose won in 2014 and competed at the National Mock Trial tournament in Madison, Wisconsin. This year, we defeated Logos School in north Idaho to represent Idaho in the first-ever Boise Nationals competition held in Boise on May 12-14.
The road to the championship was long. First, we had to advance from the 2016 regional competition held in Caldwell. We defeated Capital and Centennial high schools, as well as our own “B” team, which was the secondary team from Ambrose. We took first place in the southern regional.
In the state quarter finals, we defeated Coeur d’Alene and Lake City from the North, as well as Logos School in Moscow’s ‘B’ team, and a team from Helena, Montana. We entered the semi finals as one of the top contenders, having lost no ballots from judges in the earlier regional or state competitions. Ambrose defeated Mountain Home in the semi finals 3-0 to face Logos school in Moscow for the final round in the Idaho Supreme Court. We defeated Logos with the narrowest of margins— 2 ballots to 1, with only one point separating the two teams for the victory.
Ambrose had eight students on our winning team. In the final round, student attorneys Noah Pauls, Eric Wilford, and Ally Chaney argued for the Plaintiff in a securities fraud case written by representatives of the Idaho State Bar Assn. Witnesses Reagan Good, Noah Good, and Samantha Baran competed with Leah March rounding out the team as the timekeeper. Leah, Reagan, and Noah played instrumental roles as attorneys and Phillip Cutler as a witness on our defense side in earlier rounds.
Mock Trial is a motivating and high-energy competition where teams of 7-9 students construct a court-case out of documents provided to both sides. The teams use strategy, rhetorical skills, argument, and examination skills to battle for a win in any given round.
The US National High School Mock Trial championships will be held in Boise for the first time in the event’s history. The Ada County Courthouse will provide the courtrooms for over 46 teams from the more than 50 US states and territories. This annual event draws judges and lawyers who are self-proclaimed “mock trial junkies” from around the nation. And, it draws teams from as far away as the Solomon Islands and South Korea.
Ambrose team members win Regional and State Awards
At The Regional trials in Caldwell, Ambrose took 5 of 9 attorney awards, as well as 3 witness awards.
State Awards
State Quarter Final Best Attorneys:
Best Witness: Samantha Baran
