Struthers mock-trial team competing Thursday for first time at state

STRUTHERS

When Malcom Gordon, a Struthers High School senior, heard his mock-trial team had qualified for state-level competition, he ran through several aisles of people to give his adviser a hug.

“We collided,” Rick Bruno, a social-studies teacher and the team’s adviser, said of the moment.

Several other members of the team said they cried upon hearing the announcement.

“I still hear that voice in my head sometimes,” senior Katelyn Davis said. “Knowing I was part of that – that’s probably the best feeling I’ve had in my entire life.”

After winning the regional competition in Akron last month, the high-school mock-trial team advanced to statewide competition, which begins Thursday at the statehouse in Columbus. They are the first team in Struthers history to make it to state.

The students are divided into teams for either the prosecution or defense. For months, they’ve been reviewing case law and preparing testimony.

Local lawyers have donated their time to help the students practice.

Read more about the team and their preparation in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.