Fayetteville-Manlius Mock Trial Team Returns to States After Four Year Absence

Fayetteville-Manlius long-time mock trial coach Joe Worm is excited to bring a new squad of students back to Albany for the New York State Bar Association’s Mock Trial state tournament.

“We’ve had many long seasons where we came up just short. This season has been a year where they’re just locked in, and getting to experience a lot of the success that I knew they were capable of,” he said. “Now, they’re finally getting to kind of see the fruits of their labor.”

Returning member Chase Jaconski credits the team’s work ethic for its success.

“Everyone, from our paralegals to our witnesses to our attorneys, has put in an incredible amount of work to help us get from where we were of winning each of our preliminary rounds, winning the semifinals for our counties, winning our counties, and then going on to win all four trials at regionals. We’re really proud of everything this team has put in, and all the work we’ve put together to win all those trials,” he said.

Fayetteville-Manlius is known for its strong athletics program. Many of the school’s athletes, however, were drawn to the mock trial team to try their hand at a different type of competition.

“I’m much more into the athletics than I am into the academic side of extracurriculars, so this is definitely out of my comfort zone,” said Claire Aken. “I’ve met a lot of people that I wouldn’t have always seen myself talking to, but I really couldn’t imagine it any other way.”

Anna Jolly agreed, saying the team invited her in with open arms as a senior and first-time team member. She joined the “shadow squad,” which provides research and understudy work for the rest of the team.

“I joined in January of my senior year, along with several other members of the shadow squad. I had no idea what it was, but I just joined because I thought it would be a good opportunity to connect with my fellow classmates before my time at the high school is over. It’s turned into a really nice opportunity for me to do that,” she said.

The NYSBA Mock Trial program celebrates its 44th year of competition this year. There are 400 teams involving 4,000 high school students in the competition. The program is sponsored by the New York State Bar Association’s Law, Youth and Citizenship Committee. The New York Bar Foundation provides some of the funding.