Mock Trial State Finals
This post is weeks late, but I want to get it out before I forget everything!
Thursday, March 24:
The day we left, Team Neptune presented us with balloons that matched the ones we got during LA Top 16 and a beautiful poster :) I posted about this before, but once again, it was a perfect team moment that demonstrated the love and support we have for one another.
Checking in the hotel was a big pain. I had yet to deposit the money into my checking account so my card didn’t go through to check in. Barclay’s bank also denied his card, so we were kind of stuck. With about three minutes to spare before bank closing time, we rushed to the nearest Bank of America. We got there just a few minutes after the doors were locked, but after knocking on the glass door and pleading for help, the bank manager decided to come over and talk to us. We explained our situation but she said that she couldn’t legally open the doors for security reasons.
So we did what any reasonable person would do in a situation like this…. stuff a dozen checks through the cracks in the doors. The lady was so nice and did all the transactions for us and everything was good :)
We spent a while wandering in the Mission Inn part of Downtown Riverside. For those who haven’t been there, it’s actually really pretty- kind of Old Town Pasadena-esque. We walked to many restaurants but they were either full (of mock trial kids) or too expensive ($50 a person??).
We ended up eating at Cafe Sevilla, this authentic Spanish restaurant where we really had no idea what to order. I ended up getting the safest dish on the menu- seafood pasta (except some spanish translated version). Some people were more adventurous and ordered what sounded interesting….
We went to CVS to buy groceries and pretentious water (1 Liter Fiji bottles), and then went to Starbucks. After returning to our hotel, we had a rehearsal before going to sleep.
Friday, March 25:
We slept in until 10 and woke up to a nice brunch in the Concierge Lounge on the top floor (thanks to my dad!). It was quiet and a good way to start the day. We then rehearsed again before heading to Orientation!
There were so many kids there for State Finals…. almost one thousand I believe, and they were all county champions! (minus two wild card teams). And the other thing we discovered was the traditional team cheer at roll call. We had never been here before, so we didn’t know what to do but be our obnoxious selves…watch the vlog to see how that turned out :P
After orientation, we walked back to Mission Inn to have lunch at this pizza parlor. Little did we know we would return there about three more times….
Around 3 PM, we suited up for Round 1. We were to be Prosecution and it felt good to be walking in suits with the team again. It just felt so good to be back and competing.
The Riverside judicial district is BEAUTIFUL. I didn’t know what to expect but it was honestly just so unbelievably pretty. And that day was sunny, 70, a little breezy, and just gorgeous….a perfect day for a trial.
We hit Riverside Poly in our first round and it was a good trial. Both of our teams had our own strengths and weaknesses, and it was just awesome to be in court again. I was so proud of our performance that day, and after the trial, we were once again in our post-trial euphoria.
No place was open except that pizza parlor, so there we were just a few hours later, eating some delicious pizza. The lady remembered us!
That night, we had a short rehearsal before going to sleep.
Saturday, March 26:
This was a long day. We woke up at 6 AM because we were leaving around 7 AM for court.
And of course, we hit Starbucks! :D
It was raining, but that couldn’t stop us!
That round, we hit Dos Pueblos HS from Santa Barbara and that was also a very good round. They were excellent and it was particularly difficult for us because we had never done a trial in the morning. The entire LA County competition is done at during the evenings of November, so morning was a new experience for us (especially saying Good Morning, Your Honor instead of Good Evening, Your Honor). But again, the experience was amazing.
We were particularly drained after that round and as the trial finished, Judge Fisher ushered us out quickly to our team corner we had secured on the second floor. The entire team just collapsed on the ground as the coaches ran out to grab food and drinks for us. It was so physically and emotionally exhausting, and honestly, I was doubting our ability to do three trials in one day.
But of course, I was wrong. We went to our third trial and we picked ourselves up right from the start. It was good to see everybody alert again because I was very worried about our team’s physical state. But I have learned to always have faith in this team<3
We returned to our team spot, and the team collapsed on the ground again. The coaches knew that we couldn’t continue like this, so we decided it would be best to go outside to get some fresh air. Mr. Fisher quickly went to the store and picked up some Starbucks and snack foods for us to keep us energized. And before we knew it, we were walking back into court for our fourth, and last trial.
That round was just dedicated to giving it our all since it was our last trial ever as a team. Every time we stand up in court, I am more and more impressed because we keep improving, and everything just went so well. I loved everything about that trial, and our opponents were so nice! (especially since we actually had time to socialize a bit after the trial).
And of course….traditional silly picture :)
As we left the courtroom, we couldn’t stop hugging each other. We were just so happy and proud of how far we had come as a team. The court security kept trying to get us to leave the courthouse because they were trying to close up, we were just too happy.
We returned to the hotel quite late, and only got to catch the last bit of the state dance. We also discovered that it is customary for teams to have a “theme” and all the team members from respective counties dress up to their team theme. Next year! :P
At the end of the dance, they announced the advancing top 2 teams to the championship round. We weren’t called, but we weren’t expecting much, and we were just too happy to be there, so that didn’t matter.
We ordered pizza (from the same pizza parlor), walked down to Mission Inn to pick it up, and returned to our hotel room to eat and talk. It felt good to chill and hang out for once :)
Sunday, March 27:
We slept in on Sunday and packed unwillingly. Packing to go home is always the worst part of any trip, and this was no different.
We walked back to Mission Inn (and that same pizza parlor place LOL) for a small brunch before awards.
Beautiful day :)
Awards was amazing for our team. We got 13th place and won three individual awards!
The courtroom artist from LA (who doesn’t go to our school, but hung out with us) won first place! Her drawing of Michelle and Patrick will be on the cover of next year’s case packet!
Alex Ethridge won the Best Witness award for playing Detective Frankie Cooper and I won the Best Prosecuting Attorney award. Three state champions out of the twelve state champion awards given…. I think our school did pretty well :)
We were all so sad to leave Riverside, but it had to be done. On the way home, we stopped by this Cajun restaurant called The Boiler to reflect on our trip and just hang out :)
We returned to Arcadia in the late afternoon. Meeting in the teacher parking lot, we had one last hug as a team, sang our “Pirate” song at the top of our lungs, and did one last team huddle. It has been one long and amazing journey for Arcadia Mock Trial.
We rest our case.
