LACKAWANNA COUNTY, Pa. — Trophy cases line the walls of Abington Heights High School near Clarks Summit in Lackawanna County.
Each window is filled to the brim with titles and championships, and the gold hardware is a symbol of the hard work behind it.
Now, one more will be added to the shelves as the Abington Heights Mock Trial team has brought home a national championship.
It's the first for the school and the state of Pennsylvania as a whole.
"It was just a lot of long hours," said Madeline Harold, Abington's mock trial captain. "We were here on weekends a lot of the times. We were the last ones to leave before they had to turn on the security alarms for the night. It was a lot of hard work, so we're really grateful to see it pay off."
"You essentially have to become a lawyer as a high school student. You have to learn legal procedure, you need to learn all the technical terminology, you have to figure out a new way to carry yourself," said Aidan Lam, mock trial counsel.
The group competed against 48 other states, arguing a new case in the courtroom—this time, a civil case—with very little time to prepare.
"You have essentially five weeks to prepare the case, where at the state level, you have about five months," Harold said.
But this team is pretty good at it, and it shows. On top of this national award, the team has also brought home three state titles in the past four years.
"If you don't have team chemistry, then it's not going to perform well. It's not going to portray well to a panel of judges because they see you're working together and that's the most important part," Lam said.
Some of their standout work caught the attention of the judges, with seniors Lam and Harold taking home a top 10 award as this is just the start of their futures in the courtroom.
"I definitely plan on becoming an attorney but I'm not sure what the future will hold," Lam said.
"I'm majoring in international politics, and I'm also planning on going pre-law. And I'll also be participating in their mock trial program," Harold said.
The group isn't done celebrating just yet. They'll be heading to the White House to meet with President Joe Biden on Memorial Day.