One single lawsuit dominated Orlando’s Orange County Courthouse. A civil lawsuit claiming invasion of privacy was filed by eighteen year old Harper Sanders against Reese Charrington, The CEO and Chairman of a computer company that leased her school free laptops for the year. Sanders claimed that the theft recovery program on her computer was turned on and took photos of her in her private bedroom.

This case is not actually at the forefront of local news, but rather invented by the Florida Law Related Education and the focus of 16 high school mock trial teams the case was revealed and after school practices began last October. The 16 teams, Saint Stephen’s’ team included, were named the best in their respective districts and qualified to advance to the state competition, held at Orlando’s Orange County Courthouse. Over four days of competition, students present one side of the case per round, against four rival teams vying for the chance to be the one team representing Florida in the national championship.

As the students prepared for the trial, they discovered technicalities that turned what seemed to be a black-and-white case into a situation full of gray areas. Sanders signed a contract saying it was acceptable for the company to monitor her computer, but she was never informed that this monitoring system involved the webcam on her camera being secretly turned on. She didn’t read the contract that she signed with the company, but the company also didn’t tell anyone how they were going to use photos to locate the computers. Saint Stephen’s had a particularly small team, comprised of eight students instead of the usual ten to twelve, but they had an unparalleled command of the facts packed within witness affidavits and evidence.

The eight Falcons, seniors Valerie Arias and Ben Kalish, juniors Devon Sullivan, Sabrina Priestley, team captain Sabel Duncan, and sophomores Alana Shukovsky and Miranda Carassi were fierce competition in the courtroom. They delivered opening statements, cross examining witnesses and battling objections.

The way that the state competition is judged is shrouded in confusion. Ms. Patricia Murphy, our faculty coach, claims that after twenty-four years of involving Saint Stephen’s in this program, she’s still confused on how it works. The system, called “power matching,” begins with all teams being selected for the first round at random. Then, the winners of the each following round continue to play each other in the winner’s bracket. The catch is, it is not revealed who won and who lost until a month after the state finals are over.

Saint Stephen’s competed against Laughton Chiles High School for the first round at state competition. Chiles placed second in the state for two years in a row, but there was no clear winner in that round. Sophomore Alana Shukovsky had a shining moment during her direct examination of Senior Ben Kalish. A Chiles attorney was hammering Shukovsky with objections that kept getting sustained.

Refusing to accept defeat and end her examination on a sustained objection, Shukovsky persevered, resorted to her back up question, written just for this reason. After that was objected to as well, “It took everything I had in me not to sit down. I frantically had to go through five to six questions I made up off the top of my head to finally be able to end my direct [examination of the witness] and show the other attorney who was boss.” Chiles ended up being no match for Saint Stephen’s, losing the round to the Falcons by a margin of twenty one points. Chiles, however, would leave the competition with the title of second in the state for the second consecutive year.

For the next round in competition, Saint Stephen’s was pitted against Fletcher Academy, a team that earned a reputation in the mock trial community for winning states in the 2014 competition. The defense attorneys from Fletcher stalked around the courtroom, yelling at the jury during their opening argument about how Harper Sanders, being emotionally traumatized from her experience with her laptop’s webcam that could have taken photos of her without her knowing, was the natural result of her irresponsible actions.

Newcomer to the mock trial team, Senior Valerie Arias was sure to make the jury think otherwise when she was testifying on the stand. She embodied the quintessential victim of privacy invasion, speaking very softly with her eyes cast down. She lamented to the jury: “As soon as I walked into this room, I noticed the surveillance camera behind me. I can’t bear the thought of more people taking photos of me.” The jury reacted positively to Arias’s heart wrenching soliloquy of pity and devastation, resulting in Saint Stephen’s winning the match against Fletcher.

The Falcons had marginal time before needing to prepare to play defense against American Heritage. Infamously losing a spot in the 2014 finals last year by one point, Heritage would go on to win the title of State Champs in 2015, although Saint Stephen’s would out-point American Heritage by one.

This success can be attributed to senior Ben Kalish, who played the president of the Parent Teacher Organization at Palm County High School. Kalish sauntered over to his seat at the witness stand, leaned back in his chair, and answered accusatory questions from Heritage attorneys with ease. He received high praise from the jury during the period of critique after the trial finished.

“I felt that it was a nod to my effort. A lot of the time as a witness you don’t necessarily receive the kind of recognition or people don’t understand the type of effort that goes into seeming natural,” Kalish explained.

Charlotte High School was the last opponent the Falcons had to face. Captain Sabel Duncan’s performance during the competition had been top-notch, and this trial was no exception. Duncan is fearless when trying to make a point and never lets witnesses get away with avoiding answering her tough questions. In fact, so many of the scoring judges agreed with this statement that she was awarded Top Attorney, one of four prestigious trophies handed out during the awards ceremonies.

The eight students sent to states put all of their effort into practicing and perfecting their roles for the state competition. Saint Stephen’s’ attorney coach Jim Delgado promised, “By the time the last competition rolls around, you [the mock trial team] are going to be a completely different team.” It was true. Although the case is closed, the skills honed by these students will serve them for the rest of their life.