A Chip Off The Ol' Block

Leah as a high school freshman decided to try out this year for the school's mock trial team.

She made the junior varsity team and in her first competition, a regional one that feeds into the state competition.  She totally crushed it, on the prosecution side, on Zoom, no less.

Her team of 4 (two on prosecution, 2 on defense) drew an honorable mentions at the regional and then got slotted as a wildcard entry for the State Mock Trial competition, and was notified they got the slot six days ago for the competition being held today on Zoom.

Did I mention she also had to do half of the Defense team side as well for this competition as one of the Defendant team members dropped out, and learn and prep for it it in less than 6 days?

As such, she's been up today since 6:30 am, ensconced in the home office all to herself with the door securely shut and without direct contact except for food, water, and tea deliveries per the rules to prevent any hint of impropriety or assistance.

We've been watching her on Zoom on mute from another room.  Occasionally even yelling at the screen at the judges for bad evidentiary rulings - ok, well,  that may have been just me.  

She's absolutely fearless and had one opponent in an initial round giving up completely on his objections in the face of her responses.

She did her 2 initial rounds, one on the prosecution side, one on the defense side and then her team advanced to the semifinals, so she was one of the top 4 teams in the state. 

In the semi-finals, her team came in either 3rd or 4th in the state (we're still waiting on the official scoring), which is the farthest in the state competitions that her high school has even gone, and not bad at all for a first time competitor and her team. 

She's finally able to be out of the room, 12 hours later, totally exhausted, but is going to watch the final round.

The kid is fast-thinking on her feet, and can deliver excellent direct and withering cross examinations. She's also getting bumped up to the varsity Mock Trial team as a sophomore next year as she did so well this year. 

Much parental pride here.