After more than a month of Zoom meetings, both of Mayfield’s Mock Trials teams competed against other schools and advanced to regionals.

This year’s case is Hollis Fitzpatrick vs. State of Buckeye. In summary, Hollis Fitzpatrick is suing the State of Buckeye for forcing him to close down his family restaurant due to the harsh restrictions the state has placed for COVID-19. Hollis Fitzpatrick asks for compensation from the government since they took his property without consent.

Mock Trial’s co-president is senior Aribah Hossain, and she thinks that advancing to regionals has felt both like a reward and a curse with how much time she’s had to spend. She said, “I’m putting my all into regionals. I envision we’re going to be polished and prepared. We’re going note-less, and we’re going to develop an understanding of Ohio law that lets us be able to think on our feet.”

Ilana Miller is the other co-president for Mock Trial. She said, “It’s really exciting to be moving on to regionals, especially since both of our teams are advancing! Everyone in Mock Trial has worked incredibly hard to prepare for this competition. I’m so proud and grateful of all of them, and that we get to continue working together to prepare for the next round of competition.”

Miller said the team’s focus is now on preparing for regionals. She said, “We’re going to use our experience at districts to continue practicing each part of the trial [and] focus on refining our performances, so we can present our case as clearly and professionally as possible for the judges.”

Junior Hannah Kloppman, who is both a witness and lawyer on the team, has been putting in the work to prepare for competitions. She says, “Everyone has worked really hard all year to build our case; we have a great group this year! [To prepare for regionals], we’ll be focusing on presentation and preparing to go up against difficult teams.”

Yesterday, Team 2 scrimmaged Laurel for further practice. Their regional competition will take place on Feb. 18.