Lakeview’s Youth and Government mock trial team placed top three out of 40 other teams in district competition. The team will now compete at the state competition.

Along with placing top three among all the schools, junior Juliette Walters won best attorney.

“It was so unexpected,” Walters said. “They called my name, and I’m like ‘do they have the wrong attorney?’ Eventually, I realized [my] hard work paid off. My team worked really hard for the position, and I’m really proud of them.”

For the mock trial team, winning top three means their hard work was worth it.

“Hard work got us here,” junior Vashati Silvaz said. “Seeing my team’s expressions when they called our team was indescribable. We worked so hard for district competition, and now we have to double the effort for state competition.”

The state competition for the mock trial team will take place in January.

“Making it to State means our judicial team put in a lot of hard work,” Youth and Government club sponsor Susan Troutte said. “I’m very excited for our team. Now we can only do better for state.”