Photo courtesy of Hoover City Schools
The 2022-23 senior mock trial team from Spain Park High School won first place in the Alabama Youth Judicial State Mock Trial Competition in Montgomery, Alabama and qualified to go to the national competition in Little Rock, Arkansas, in May 2023. Team members were, front row from left, Sara Quiceno, Roselyn Olvera and Abigail Linderman; back row, from left, Jack Hagglund, Camila Lopez and Adie Carter.
The Hoover Board of Education on Monday night honored a team of six seniors from Spain Park High School who recently won the Youth Judicial State Mock Trial Tournament in Montgomery.
The students are part of Spain Park’s Law Academy and beat out 47 other teams around the state and now move on to the national competition in Little Rock, Arkansas, in May, said Sherea Harris-Turner, spokeswoman for the Hoover school district. Team members were Abigail Linderman, Jack Hagglund, Camila Lopez, Roselyn Olvera, Adie Carter and Sara Quiceno.
This was the fourth year in a row that a team from Spain Park has won the state competition and the 11th time in the past 12 years Spain Park made it into the final trial at the state competition, Linderman said. This time, Spain Park defeated UMS-Wright in the final trial to capture the state victory, she said. Last year’s winning team from Spain Park placed second nationally in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
“We have some pretty big shoes to fill this year,” Linderman told the Hoover school board Monday night. “We are honored to have the opportunity to represent Alabama, Hoover, the school system and our families. … Thank you for giving kids like us a chance to have all of these opportunities — opportunities to represent the state, our families, our community and our school. I think I speak for our whole team when I say that we take that job very seriously.”
Hagglund said he was in Spain Park's Engineering Academy his first two years at the school but switched to the Law Academy his junior year and is grateful for all the guidance and support he has received from mentors and teachers such as Law Academy Director Craig Thompson.
"Your passion and dedication is truly inspirational, and we are all so fortunate to have you," Hagglund told Thompson.
Hagglund said he's thankful to have the speciality academies like Spain Park has.
"Rather than high school kids taking random classes, I believe all these academies provide structure, focus, camaraderie and collaboration, all of which will better help prepare us for college and the real world after that, not to mention just being better people," Hagglund said.
"Furthermore, they help us figure out what career paths are right for us," he said. "When I picked the Law Academy, my goal was not to win state, but rather to try to find something new and figure out myself and my passion. I never in a million years could have imagined I would be here right now. Don't get me wrong. I am ecstatic about it, but I'm equally thrilled that I have found my passion and an opportunity to be a part of such an amazing group of peers and teachers."
Hagglund noted that Spain Park had four teams place in the top 10 at the state competition.
In other business Monday night, the Hoover school board:
- Recognized Gwin and Rocky Ridge elementary schools for being among 406 schools that made the 2022 list of “America’s Healthiest Schools” put out by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. The schools are judged based on how well they do nine things: strengthen social/emotional health and learning; cultivate staff well-being; increase family and community engagement; improve nutrition and food access; implement local school wellness policies; bolster physical education and activity; enrich health education; promote tobacco-free schools; and support school health services.
- Recognized Becky Peterson, a physical education teacher at Rocky Ridge Elementary as the school district’s new district wellness coordinator
- Recognized Brock’s Gap Intermediate School third grade teacher Sumner Carlton for being named to the Top 30 Under 30 list by the Alabama Literacy Association for helping improve literacy
- Recognized January as Gifted Education Month
- Approved new job descriptions for a kitchen specialist apprentice in the building services department and cosmetology/barbering instructor at the Riverchase Career Connection Center
- Heard a report from the YMCA that its after-school care program has served 2,175 children in Hoover schools in the past five years and provided more than $165,000 in scholarship money for children whose parents were not able to afford the full price of after-school care services
Editor's note: This story was updated at 11:12 p.m. on Jan. 11 with the names of all the first-place team members and quotes from team member Jack Hagglund.
