On an unassuming Wednesday night, two classrooms at Newbury Park High School are transformed into makeshift courtrooms. Desks are rearranged to form the judge’s bench, witness stand and defense and prosecution tables. The newly built courtroom is filled with the rustling of paper as students in blazers and slacks page through packets of this year’s California Mock Trial case brief, People v. Clark. 

In these two rooms, the Thousand Oaks High School Mock Trial team and the Newbury Park High School Mock Trial team compete to receive either a guilty or not guilty verdict from the presiding judge.

For Thousand Oaks High, it is their first scrimmage with another school. In fact, the Thousand Oaks High School team, under new leadership with junior Aidan Light taking the helm as president, is experiencing many firsts this year. 

“Since last year, we changed how our meeting structure worked. When you come to a meeting, you have an active role. You’re not learning about the trial, you’re not figuring out what role you wanna fill, you’re actively participating and getting the practice in,” Light said.

With many first-time participants joining the team this year, it is imperative to experience a full-length trial prior to the official competition. This is especially true for freshman Blake Cook who recently transferred to Thousand Oaks High School. With only a few weeks to practice, Cook described her thoughts on the scrimmage with one word.

“My thoughts? Terrified.”

However, soon after the Newbury Park High School scrimmage, the team stepped onto a bigger stage: last weekend, the Thousand Oaks High School Mock Trial team competed in the first round of the 2024 Ventura County Mock Trial competition at the Ventura County Courthouse.

“It was a great learning year, so I hope everyone just enjoy[ed] their experience, that they learned a lot, that they had fun and that they get to come back,” Light said.

The next round of the competition will be held at the Ventura County Courthouse on Feb. 24–25.