The verdict delivered good news for the Penn State Mock Trial Association on Sunday in Chicago.
The team placed second out of 52 teams at the Northwestern National tournament, and it will now advance to the National Championships at Stetson University, in St. Petersburg, Fla., in April.
"It was really fun because we were in a court house in Illinois, so it was more of a realistic feel and atmosphere," Jenna Lyle, president of the Penn State Mock Trial Association, said.
The competition this past weekend hosted teams from all over the country. Some other teams that competed were from schools such as UC Berkeley and Stanford, Lyle said.
Because the Penn State team placed third at the regional competition, it had to go through the competition at Northwestern instead of going directly to the championships like the first- and second-place winners did.
However, Lyle said that the team has benefited from all of the experience that this competition has offered. This experience will serve the team well against some potentially less-experienced teams that placed directly into the St. Petersburg competition, she said.
The Penn State team completed the competition with a record six wins, one loss and one tie. The winners are determined not by whether or not the verdict is in the team's favor, but by how many points its members are awarded by the judges, although the two often go hand in hand. "Its fun, but it's also nerve racking at the same time," said Bryanna Hahn (sophomore-crime, law and justice), a Mock Trial team member.
She said that students don't have to have lots of experience to join the team. Her team included several members who were freshmen.
Despite a good performance, Lyle said, only one of the two teams that Penn State sent to the Northwestern National tournament will advance to the AMTA National Championship Tournament. Penn State students won several individual awards as well, including more than one "best witness," and one "best attorney" award, Lyle said. "It was a great experience because we went against teams that were very competitive and challenging," she added.
