{"id":65671,"date":"2026-05-14T21:48:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T01:48:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=65671"},"modified":"2026-05-14T21:48:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T01:48:59","slug":"lakeland-christian-school-students-win-national-high-school-mock-trial-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/05\/14\/lakeland-christian-school-students-win-national-high-school-mock-trial-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakeland Christian School students win National High School Mock Trial Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is a historic win for Lakeland Christian School<\/strong> (LCS)! On Saturday, May 9, 2026, the LCS Mock Trial team was crowned the 2026 National High School Mock Trial Champion<\/strong> in Des Moines, Iowa.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Vikings made history as the first team from Polk County\u2014and one of the few from Florida\u2014to ever secure the national title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Road to the Championship<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

After winning the Florida state title in Orlando earlier this spring, the LCS team advanced to the national tournament, which featured the top teams from across the United States, South Korea, and the Northern Mariana Islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Host City:<\/strong> Des Moines, Iowa.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Final Round Venue:<\/strong> The Polk County Historic Courthouse (a fitting coincidence for the Lakeland-based team).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The Final Matchup:<\/strong> LCS (Florida) vs. Northview High School (Georgia).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Presiding Judge:<\/strong> Iowa Chief Justice Susan Christensen.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Key Highlights of the Victory<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    The competition involved a fictional legal case rooted in the local history of Des Moines.<\/sup> Students had to master both the prosecution\/plaintiff and defense sides of the case, portraying both attorneys and witnesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • The Coaches:<\/strong> The team was led by attorney coach Chasity Branham<\/strong> and teacher coach Jennifer Canady<\/strong>, along with assistance from local legal professionals including Tenth Judicial Circuit Judge Melissa Gravitt<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Professionalism:<\/strong> Beyond their legal arguments, the team was praised for their poise and “Legal Professionalism,” a hallmark they have built since the program’s inception.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Individual Honors:<\/strong> Several LCS students received individual “Best Attorney” and “Best Witness” certificates during the preliminary rounds of the four-day event.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      What is Mock Trial?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      Mock Trial is an academic competition that simulates a real trial. Students are judged on their ability to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      1. Deliver opening and closing statements.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      2. Conduct direct and cross-examinations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      3. Argue evidentiary objections based on the Rules of Evidence.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      4. Portray witnesses convincingly based on sworn affidavits.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        This victory caps off a remarkable rise for the LCS program, which only began a few years ago and has quickly become a national powerhouse in civic education and student advocacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        This is a historic win for Lakeland Christian School (LCS)! On Saturday, May 9, 2026, the LCS Mock Trial team was crowned the 2026 National High School Mock Trial Champion… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"12","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDVcL2Rvd25sb2FkLTQtMy53ZWJwP2ZpdD0zMDAlMkMxNjgmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJMYWtlbGFuZCBDaHJpc3RpYW4gU2Nob29sIHN0dWRlbnRzIHdpbiBOYXRpb25hbCBIaWdoIFNjaG9vbCBNb2NrIFRyaWFsIENoYW1waW9uc2hpcCIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.D_4HJ_osL3lROtfh3CI2B58bl8tftQS3-WTNjRPKo3AMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA1XC9kb3dubG9hZC00LTMud2VicCIsInR4dCI6Ikxha2VsYW5kIENocmlzdGlhbiBTY2hvb2wgc3R1ZGVudHMgd2luIE5hdGlvbmFsIEhpZ2ggU2Nob29sIE1vY2sgVHJpYWwgQ2hhbXBpb25zaGlwIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.KGIfuT5NNcssVaW64w06dmeQVQNV6qwcuFLCM4_y7YwMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[14624],"class_list":["post-65671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-lakeland-christian-school-students-win-national-high-school-mock-trial-championship"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65671"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65673,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65671\/revisions\/65673"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}