Johnston Middle School Students Take on Mock Trials

Johnston Middle School students rule in the court of law.

Five teams comprised of seventh- and eighth-grade students in the extended learning program participated in the recent annual mock trial program. The district competition took place Nov. 2 and 3, while the state competition ran Nov. 17 through 19.

Johnston students received a number of recognitions, including outstanding witness and attorney at both the state and district level.

The teams worked with parents, teachers, attorneys and high school mentors to prepare for the event.

Students with a * by their name received district recognition as outstanding witness or attorney. Students with a + by their name received state recognition as outstanding witness or attorney.

Team Gold: (state final 4) Attorney coaches: Loraine Wallace and Julie Smith.  HS Coaches: Joy Tan, Marcus Miller, and Alex Peterson. Team Parent: Anne Ulm. TEAM MEMBERS: *Maddy Bradley, Carly Campbell, Kate Irwin, +Michelle Kumar, * Allexis Mahanna, Glen Nagel, + *Kathryn Paszkiewicz, *Loyal Ulm, and *Anne Wallace.

Team Purple: (state runner-up) Attorney Coaches: Leanne Valentine and Mike Mock. HS Coaches: Millie Varley and Karen Chen.  Team Parent: Jane McDowell.  TEAM MEMBERS: *Meredith Campidilli, Eilidh Chowanec, ** Adam Dostalik, Christian Johnson, Sheyna Nathwani, **Sami Schaer, Becca McDowell, *Lauren McDowell and Jacob Valentine.

Team Inferno: (state qualifier) Coaches: Jon Tack and Rachel Binner. HS Coaches: Kaitlyn Aldrich, Sam Sparland, Riley Deutsch, and Katie Landy. Team Parent: Julie West.   TEAM MEMBERS: **Caroline Aldrich, *Bryan Friestad, Kaitlyn Hockmuth, *Olivia Hrubetz, Jessie Landy, *Caroline Quinn, *Aubrey Soderlund, **Seth Tack, *Anna Toot, and Cierra West.

Team Firestorm: (district finalist) Coaches: Jim Johnson and Dave Seybert.  HS Coaches: Pratyusha Bujimalla, Grant McDonald, and Elizabeth Mills. Team Parent: Naomi Thomasee. TEAM MEMBERS: Bobby Bailey, Morgan Bump,*Kate Carico, Afshan Chandani, *Grant Fuhr, Justin Hu, Lavina Kalwani, Xiao Liu, *Addi Seybert, Isabelle Thomasee.

Team Dragon: (state final 4)  Coaches: Anne Keating, Jeremy Masterson and Krisanne Weimer. HS Coach: Troy Ikeda. Parent coach: Kate Safris TEAM MEMBERS: *Lizzie Boeschen, Matt Dolde, Samantha Flodin, *Jillian Gabby, *Tyler Gurney, *Megan Hartle, *Nikki Hobson, Cole Kramersmier, Shivani Kumaresan, Luke Safris.

Sami Schaer, Seth Tack, Caroline Aldrich, and Adam Dostalik received the rare honor of both outstanding witness at attorney at districts.

Katherine Paszkiewicz and Michelle Kumar were recognized at state for their outstanding performances.