Clark students breathed out a mighty sigh of relief on the Nov. 10 as they walked out of the courtroom at the LA County Courthouse. Finally ending this semester Mock Trial’s competition, members of Mock Trial team went back home, wondering if they would advance to the next round.

On Nov. 11 the final results were announced to the team, and despite their efforts the Clark Mock Trial teams didn’t make it to the next round. Lacking only 0.5% to get the passing score, Teams A and B didn’t make it in the top 16 teams. But the students stayed positive. “That’s better than 0.6%,” said junior Joshua Windolf. “We did great and the fact that we lost by such a small percentage is a testament to how good we did.”

This optimism was present after the competition, even though most members were intimidated by the trial. “It was pretty scary,” said Windolf, “but once I got used to it, I was pretty good at my presentation.” He was part of the Team B Defense team and served as the pretrial attorney. “It wasn’t as scary, after I did my part,” said junior Henry Gurgenyan, who portrayed a defense attorney in his first year with the club. Interested in politics, Gurgenyan saw Mock Trial as an interesting idea that could teach him about the field of law.

But lawyering isn’t the only thing the students learned. “There is such a friendly atmosphere in the club,” said sophomore John Bandek. “You are not afraid of making mistakes because the group always supports you.”

Team members said they may spend the second semester scrimmaging against other schools’ Mock Trial teams to learn more.