Members of the Vestavia Hills High School Mock Trial Team, sponsored by English teacher Michael Sinnott, recently earned high praise at the Alabama YMCA Youth Judicial Conference in Montgomery.
The annual three-day conference is the state’s largest mock trial tournament, with more than 600 students in grades 9-12 participating. The competition took place Nov. 2-4 in the Federal Courthouse and Montgomery County Courthouse.
VHHS Team 353 earned the Justice Hugh Maddox Award, presented to the best overall team. Team members include Ryan Conn, Sarah Beth Corona, Carter Dewees, Safa Khan, Jacob Moore, Riya Parikh, William Seitz and Whitt Shuemaker.
In addition to the VHHS team, local high school students earned top recognition in the Major League competition.
Spain Park High School’s Sawyer Smith of Spain Park High School was named Most Outstanding Defense Attorney, and Chloe Annakin earned Most Outstanding Defense Witness.
In the Prosecution category, best team awards were awarded to Spain Park High School’s Team 201, first; and VHHS team 304, third.
In defense, the best teams recognized were Hoover High School’s 254, first; VHHS team 355, second; and Spain Park team 251, third.
In the Premiere League competition, Homewood High School’s Trey Lemmon earned Most Outstanding Attorney.
Best teams in prosecution included Hoover High School team 233, second. Best defense teams included Spain Park’s 281, first; and Homewood’s 381, second.
Teams moving on to the National Judicial Competition in Chicago in August of 2020 will be VHHS’s team 353, Hoover High School’s team 254 and Spain Park’s team 281.
