Dos Pueblos High School’s Mock Trial competed in the Santa Barbara County competition in late February. DPHS’s Team A was awarded as SB County Champions for the fourth consecutive year, and Team B placed third overall. Team A will be traveling to Los Angeles, California to compete in the state mock trial competition held at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse from March 14 to 16.

“We’ve got a strong team this year, and I think we’ve got a good shot at doing really well at state,” said Team Captain Luna Avolio (12). “I don’t even think it’s out of the question for us to win.”

Avolio said she feels “pretty good” going into state competition compared to competing in county.

“For me, county [competition] is much more stressful because in county, we’re just trying to beat San Marcos High School,” Avolio said. “At state, we know a lot of the teams from scrimmages, and it’ll be good to see them, and it’s just like a nice time to do our best and have fun.”

As the state competition approaches, Milena Rodriguez (11) said that Team A’s preparation is currently going “into overdrive,” with Avolio adding that preparation has consisted of three hours practicing and utilizing available resources.

“We brought in some scores and judges from the county rounds, and then, there’s some people that our coaches know and they’ll bring in,” Avolio said. “There’s this guy, Scott Campbell, who came to practice last night to help with a pre-trial, and we might scrimmage our B team as practice.”

This year’s competition marks Rodriguez’s second official year on mock trial. She said that being a part of the team is one of the “best parts about [her] life right now.” Rodriguez said that “the sense of community” with mock trial is her favorite aspect of the team, and her favorite memory with the mock trial team was when DPHS competed in the Empire Mock Trial Philadelphia Classic, where DPHS’s Mock Trial won the final round.

“I’d say watching my peers grow, as well as the teammates, and seeing the progress when you’re sitting in trial for a couple hours straight and nothing’s going on, and then something crazy happens, is truly a highlight,” Rodriguez said.

Avolio has been a part of DPHS Mock Trial since she was a freshman and enjoyed her experience competing in the Bay Area Bash, where she was awarded for her pre-trial performance.

“I really like how, in pre-trial, you think about the cases and how they interact, because you’re … comparing past Supreme Court holdings to the particular back pattern of the case,” Avolio said. “So, that’s kind of a fun analysis to do, and then, it’s also fun to get good at it, and then make the argument to the judge.”

During Avolio’s time spent on the mock trial team, she has faced challenges and learning opportunities, from forming a “coherent argument” to the process of “refining and polishing” an argument.

“[Mock trial] has helped me learn to present more confidently, but also to present more effectively and persuasively,” Avolio said. “I think one thing that I’m really potentially interested in is teaching, and I think there’s a lot of skills that are similar between teaching and mock trial. Especially with pre-trial, what you’re basically doing is you’re teaching the judge about this issue, and you’re telling them why they should believe what you do, and I really like that.”

Team Captain William Parisse (12) has been on DPHS’s Mock Trial Team since he was a freshman and has faced challenges with sounding “robotic.” Through practices and scrimmages with the mock trial team, he has been able to overcome this, and he said he is excited about the state competition.

“I’m pretty nervous because there’s going to be a lot of good teams,” Parisse said. “We’ve seen a lot of these good teams through the competitions we’ve been going to all season long, and we’ve been able to hold our own. We have a really strong team here.”

Parisse and Rodriguez both said that the mock trial team has been working hard. Parisse said that the team “put in a ton of work [into] winning county” and work that goes into preparation for Mock Trial competitions is always “gonna pay off.”

“I’m very proud of the whole team, and I feel like there were kind of concerns about us not really going to state, and tensions were really high,” Rodriguez said. “But I fully think that we’re doing the best that we can do, and I’m excited for the state [competition].”