This year the North Providence Mock Trial team has done an incredible job of making it to the semifinals of the Rhode Island Mock Trial Tournament! With Ms. Bozigian as their coach and Sherry Lussier as an advisor, the team has gone on to win a total of four trials so far.

In any given trial, a total of 7 team members participate. Three are lawyers, three are witnesses, and one person is the rules expert. In the playoffs, the core team consists of lawyers Vina Shannon, Brian O’Gara, and Suzana Smith. The witnesses are played by Cara Damas, Freddy Alcantara, and Marisa DiIorio. David Sullivan is the team’s rules expert.

For the past two years, the Mock Trial team has had successful seasons with last year marking the first time the team made it to the playoffs in the past decade. Ms. Bozigian believes that their success as a team is due to the dedication that the seniors have had over the course of their high school careers. Even as underclassmen without roles, they showed immense passion in Mock Trial, making sure to pay attention at all their trials and take as many notes as they could from their upperclassmen. After two years of learning the ropes, their hard work paid off as they went on to win trials their junior and senior years.

So far in the season, the team has had 5 trials, four ending in victories. Now, the team has made it to the semifinals after beating Cumberland on February 29th during the second round of playoffs. This was an important victory because Cumberland was the 1st seed going into the playoffs while North Providence was 9th.

On Wednesday March 9th, the team will face off against Mount St. Charles at Roger Williams School of Law at 6:30 for the semifinals, playing the side of prosecution in a trial about a possible murder. If the team wins this trial as well as the state finals, they will be invited to attend the national tournament, held in Boise, Idaho this year.

Good luck to the Mock Trial team!