The Stroudsburg High School Mock trial club began preparations for hosting a big competition on Nov 23, 2024.
The club started the 2024-2025 school year with a large increase in student interest with more than 50 people joining the google classroom. Unlike last year, around 20 people attend each meeting now.
“We have had a surprising amount of interest in the club and I’m really excited about this year,” says English teacher and club advisor Robert Wood.
Mock Trial is a club that revolves around U.S. law, court cases, and the court system. It is essentially a simulation of what a trial in court is like: playing the roles of law attorneys, both prosecution and defense, plus witness(s).
Members are given a court case to go through, read through each detail, and examine every witnesses statement. This year, Wood implemented a new system to help our teams better organize themselves.
A two team system that has a single prosecution team, and an individual defending team. One team is responsible for proving the defendant as guilty and the other team tries their hardest to prove their defendant innocent.
The Stroudsburg Mock Trial team has been reading through their case, the Common Wealth of Pennsylvania vs Legan Arabach, for the past month. They have been putting a lot of work towards preparing for the upcoming Mock Trial event.
The case has Legan Arabach, the defendant and business leader of Alwinjo Investments, who is tried at court for the murder of Turkish immigrant and college grad, Ophile Sarat. A captivating case that deals with tragedy, murder, corruption, and so much more; requiring the club to look deeply into every detail to see if Arabach is guilty, or innocent.
Mock Trial works diligently to gain points for their team(s) and win competitions, and this year is even more different since Stroudsburg will be hosting this major event.
“This year is unique in that Stroudsburg gets to host the invitational on Nov 23. We’re excited to have it here and win our competition,” expressed Wood.
As the Stroudsburg Mock Trial club continues to work hard, and control the court, remember to wish them luck in their upcoming competition.
