SAN JOSE, CA –The Santa Clara County High School Mock Trial Tournament concluded on Wednesday, February 13, when the final two teams—Saint Francis and Prospect High Schools—faced off in "The People v. Klein" a fictional criminal case and trial of Reagan Klein, a young adult resident of the fictional town of East Flamingo, California. Reagan is charged with two felony counts: making a false report of an emergency (in this case, commonly referred to as "swatting") and making a criminal threat.
After seven rounds of competition and a final round, which lasted over two hours, Prospect High School emerged victoriously. Their success marks the first win for this school in four years.
The Prospect High School team will advance to compete against 37 county winners at the state tournament in the 38th Annual California Mock Trial Finals on March 22-24 in Sacramento.
This year, the Santa Clara County Mock Trial Tournament featured over 500 students from 22 high schools.
The winning team included: Blake Biala, Eula Billaut, Amelia Ditzler, Maral Khoyazim, Vatsal Kumar, Carmen Le, Casey Lei, Aniket Mahajan, Ashley Oh, Matthew Pendo, Chithra Rajan, Eric Scoles, Deepika Senthil, Shanaz Shakur, Nidhi Shinde, Athena Shiravi, Akshay Thakur, Eric Wang, and Mia Wercinski.
The team was coached by Stephen Smith (Teacher), Marisa Cantone (Teacher), and Dan Taylor (Attorney).
# # #
About the Santa Clara County Office of Education
Working collaboratively with school and community partners, the Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) is a regional service agency that provides instructional, business, and technology services to the 31 school districts of Santa Clara County. The County Office of Education directly serves students through special education programs, alternative schools, Head Start and State Preschool programs, migrant education, and Opportunity Youth Academy. The SCCOE also provides academic and fiscal oversight and monitoring to districts in addition to the 22 Santa Clara County Board of Education authorized charter schools.