Decorah Middle School mock trial teams earn medals at State Mock Trial Competition

Decorah Middle School Mock Trial students who recently competed at the State Tournament in Des Moines include (row 1, l-r): Libby Phillips, Jorja Folkedahl, Jensen Korsness, Kathryn Kelly, Gwen Thompson, Natalie Goodner, Caleb Fey, Grace Blikre; (row, 2, l-r): Caden Branum, Skyler Cole, Brenna Parker, Annika Brynsaas, Elsa Johnson, Kealy Hines, Kamryn Werges; (row 3, l-r): Cadence Brauer, Abbie Valkosky, Elayna Hook, Evon Leitz, McKenzie Riley, Oliver Brummel, Edyn Bateman; (row 4, l-r): Elizabeth Pritchard, Brynn Storhoff, Simon Kutz, Gabe Hiner, Shlok Patel, and Brady Bohner.

Three Decorah Middle School teams brought home six outstanding performance medals from the State Mock Trial competition--the most of any of the 34 competing teams.

Six Decorah students were honored with medals: Brenna Parker for Outstanding Attorney and Brady Bohner, Jorja Folkedahl, Kathryn Kelly, Jensen Korsness, and Elsa Johnson for Outstanding Witness. To earn this award, a student must be nominated by both judges as their top choice in a single round. Decorah students won six of the 29 medals awarded for outstanding performance.

Many Decorah participants were nominated for outstanding honors, some by numerous judges. Nominated as outstanding attorney were Grace Blikre, Caden Branum, Oliver Brummel, Jorja Folkedahl, Natalie Goodner, Elayna Hook, Simon Kutz, Brenna Parker, Shlok Patel, Libby Phillips, McKenzie Riley, and Brynn Storhoff.  Nominated as outstanding witness were Grace Blikre, Oliver Brummel, Gabe Hiner, Elsa Johnson, Kathryn Kelly, Evon Leitz, Libby Phillips, Elizabeth Pritchard, and Gwen Thompson.

Decorah Middle School Mock Trial this year was sponsored by Decorah Schools and several law firms, including the firm of Anderson, Wilmarth, Van Der Maaten, Belay, Fretheim, Gipp, Lynch and Zahasky and the firm of Meyer, Lorentzen, Nelson, which provided mentoring from attorney Sandra Clasen.

Six Decorah Middle School students earned Outstanding Attorney or Witness awards at the State Competition in Des Moines, including (l-r): Elsa Johnson, Brady Bohner, Brenna Parker, Kathryn Kelly, Jensen Korsness, and Jorja Folkedahl