Miramonte High School has made its case — two years in a row.
After speeches made by the coaches and individual awards given out toparticipating students, the 32nd Annual Contra Costa County High School Mock Trial’s Awards Ceremony Thursday night concluded with the naming of this year’s championship team: Miramonte High of Orinda.
This is Miramonte’s second win in a row; they have dominated the county’s Mock Trial program since 2000, by now winning 10 championships, according to a news release from the Contra Costa County Office of Education.
The top four teams finished in this order:
- Miramonte High of Orinda.
- California High of San Ramon.
- Acalanes High of Lafayette.
- Monte Vista High of Danville.
For the past four weeks (seven evenings), Miramonte and 16 other Contra Costa County high school Mock Trial teams have been battling it out with each other inside the superior courthouse courtrooms in Martinez, in the Contra Costa County Office of Education’s 32th Annual High School Mock Trial Competition.
Miramonte High will now represent Contra Costa County at the California State Mock Trial competition, held in Riverside March 23-25. (The California state finalist team will then compete in the National Mock Trial Competition, held in Indianapolis May 9-11.)
Teams from the following 17 Contra Costa County high schools competed: Acalanes (Lafayette), Alhambra (Martinez), Antioch (Antioch), California (San Ramon), Campolindo (Moraga), Clayton Valley Charter (Concord), Deer Valley Law Academy (Antioch), Dougherty Valley (San Ramon), El Cerrito (El Cerrito), Hercules Middle/High (Hercules), Heritage (Brentwood), Kennedy (Richmond), Las Lomas (Walnut Creek), Miramonte (Orinda), Monte Vista (Danville), Northgate (Walnut Creek), and Richmond (Richmond).
Mock Trial is an academic event for high school students coordinated by the Contra Costa County Office of Education, and sponsored by the Constitutional Rights Foundation. The program teaches students about the law and the workings of the legal system. To prepare, the students conducted legal research and received guidance on courtroom procedures from their school teachers and volunteer attorneys and judges, to acquire a working knowledge of the judicial system. This year, close to 100 Bay Area practicing and retired attorneys, senior law students, and sworn judges volunteered their time to serve as Mock Trial Attorney Scorers and Judges.
