Bensalem High School’s Mock Trial Team was recently honored by the Bucks County Bar Association for being Mock Trial Champions.
On March 24, in Harrisburg, Bensalem’s team competed in the 2023 Pennsylvania Statewide High School Mock Trial Competition, sponsored by the Young Lawyers Division of the Bucks County Bar Association. The competition, in its 40th year, provides high school students with firsthand experience of the American judicial system.
During the competition, the teams were given the opportunity to argue a case before a judge. The students played the roles of attorneys, plaintiffs, defendants and witnesses, and were assisted by attorney advisor Deputy District Attorney Brittney Kern and their teacher advisor, Carrie Cramer. A jury decided the winner.
The competition started at the county level with 21 teams. Bensalem placed first with an undefeated record to advance to the Regional Competition in Media, which had four teams from Bucks, Delaware and Chester counties. With the win in Media, Bensalem was one of 14 teams in Pennsylvania to compete in Harrisburg.
The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office adopted the Bensalem team several years ago, and many current and former prosecutors have served as a coach to the team. District Attorney Matt Weintraub was among those former coaches with his team finishing in second place in the statewide competition.
“Our team is simply amazing and so is the bond that they have formed,” said Cramer.
The students were: senior Kadyn Geddes; juniors Victoria Mocarski, Andrew Reznichenko, Zachary Brunell and Ayesha Siddiq; sophomores Rishi Jani, Kailey Roberts, Chudier Nyak and Bhavya Patel; and freshmen Greeshma Annagowni and Charlize Seaford.
