Alamance Community College’s student Mock Trial Team are champions. The five-member squad, competing in the inaugural Community College Clash, defeated Pasadena Community College of California to claim the title, finishing with a final record of 7-1 in the two-day event, December 9-10. All the mock trials were held over Zoom video calls.

 

ACC’s first-place championship team was one of two that the College sported during the competition. ACC’s Team B performed well, finishing third with a record of 6-2.

 

ACC student teams have competed for nine years in events sponsored by the American Mock Trial Association. Over that time, ACC has been one of the only community college-based mock trial teams in the country, competing among hundreds of four-year colleges and universities.

 

“This year was the first time the Association initiated an outreach program specifically for community colleges to compete against each other,” said ACC English instructor Kevin Sargent, who has served as ACC’s Mock Trial Team coordinator and faculty advisor for nearly ten years. Sargent said that ACC Interim President Dr. Larry Keen was very supportive of the endeavor, accessing his contacts with other community college presidents to encourage them to participate in the Clash.

 

At this month’s Community College Clash, ACC students earned individual awards at the end of the competition. Phoebe Magers finished in first place for Outstanding Attorney with a perfect score of 20 on the defense side of the mock case. Remarkably, Phoebe Magers also won the Top Witness Award with another perfect score of 20 portraying the role of the plaintiff in a separate mock case. ACC student attorneys Jaryn Green finished fourth and Zak Belchak was fifth overall.

 

Students on ACC’s 7-1 championship team are Jayrn Green, Zack Belchak, Aracely Aguilar, Meredith Powell, and Lily Sumner. Students on the 6-2 Team B are Phoebe Magers, An Thanh Nguyen, Jacob Taylor, and Ethan Wynn.

 

(Pictured) ACC’s 3rd place team are (from left): Ethan Wynn, Phoebe Magers, An Thanh Nguyen, and Jacob Taylor.

“Now that the Clash is over, our ACC team will begin preparing to return to competition on a completely different case against the Dukes and Carolinas of the world at the Regional Championship in February,” said Sargent.

 

This month’s Community College Clash included Wake Technical Community College’s first ever team, coached by Jason Cain. That team drew support from ACC team advisor Kevin Sargent.

 

“We like to help each other at the community college level when it comes to starting up a new endeavor,” said Sargent. “Although we do compete against one another in the mock trial events, it’s still always about providing the students opportunities to learn skills that will help them in their academic and career endeavors. This is no different.”

 

ACC’s single loss in the December competition came against Wake’s team, which ultimately finished in second place.

 

The Community College Clash consisted of four mock trials over two days, each lasting about two hours with breaks between each competition. Volunteer attorneys, judges, and mock trial coaches from around the U.S. scored the trials in a simulated courtroom setting, awarding points to the student participants. In all, eight community colleges participated at various stages during the fall, but only four took part in the final December competition.

 

“Our team was much more prepared than the other teams,” said Sargent. “We spend a lot of time outside of classes researching and studying and rehearsing the trial cases we are going to either prosecute or defend.

 

“I would love to see the mock trial competitions grow in North Carolina,” said Sargent. “I will always be willing to collaborate with other institutions to help them build their student teams. I believe we have a duty to serve gifted and ambitious students and this certainly does that. Historically community colleges have been left out of mock trial teams. That’s why I think this is so important. Our students here at ACC over the last few years have competed against four-year schools and do very, very well.”