Clarke Central High School Mock Trial Club member Nora Schindler, a junior, sits in Room 183 on Jan. 31. CCHS Mock Trial Club sponsor Matthew Regester began preparing the team for their first competition of the season in the fall of 2024. “I do think that (the students) think they’re under prepared, (but) usually, when the time comes, it’s different,” Regester said. “I think we’re prepared. We also have room to grow, but I think we are prepared at the current and we’ll build up (from here).” Photo by Lydia Rowell
On Feb. 1, the CCHS Mock Trial Club will visit the University of Georgia’s Alexander Campbell King Law Library to participate in their first competition of the 2024-25 season.
The Clarke Central High School Mock Trial Club will participate in their first competition of the 2024-25 season on Feb. 1 at the University of Georgia’s Alexander Campbell King Law Library. There, students will simulate a court hearing based on a case file that they were given in October.
CCHS science department teacher and Mock Trial Club sponsor Matthew Regester, who has been with the team for three years, and attorney coach Ken Mauldin began preparing them for the competition in the fall of 2024.
“(To prepare), we looked at a case file from around four years ago. That was a civil case because it alternates (each year) from civil (to) criminal. We knew this year would be civil,” Regester said. “So, we took the most recent civil case that no one had participated in, analyzed that and then (will hold) a mock trial.”
The competition will be split into several rounds, and half of the team, either plaintiff or defendant, will compete at one given time.
“In previous region (competitions), the morning session starts at 8:30 (a.m.) and half (of) the team is competing, (while) half of the team is in a different room, studying. Then, it switches,” Regester said.
“This year, a lot of people had to step up and do something they weren’t used to.”
— Ella Cleland,
CCHS senior and Mock Trial Club member
Regester and Mauldin led the team to both the district and state levels in 2023 and 2024.
“After my first year, when we made it all the way to state and then got fifth, that set the bar high,” Regester said. “I’m usually nervous going into (regionals) because (there’s) so many different moving parts and you just don’t know how other teams will approach it.”
CCHS senior Ella Cleland, who has been in the club for four years, has high hopes going into this season’s first competition.
“(For) the past two years we have had essentially the same team, and (we) have done pretty well. However, we just lost a lot of seniors, and they all had attorney positions. This year, a lot of people had to step up and do something they weren’t used to,” Cleland said. “I have seen how hard everyone’s working to fill those shoes, (though), and I am confident (that) we will do well.”
