Immediate Release
May 15, 2012
Contact:

Bonnie Reidy
Chief Communications Officer
704-866-6118
704-867-1711, Evenings and Weekends
e-mail: breidy@gaston.k12.nc.u

Gastonia, N.C. – You would expect to hear a basketball or football team cheer, “We’re number one,” but at South Point High School the chant is from the state Moot Court champions. 

South Point’s Darrell Black and Amber Pritchard captured the state moot court championship on Friday, May 4.  The event took place in the North Carolina Supreme Court Chambers in Raleigh.  Black and Pritchard defeated Greensboro’s Grimsley High School in the finals of the prestigious competition. 

A panel of N.C. Supreme Court and Court of Appeals Judges served as judges for the finals of the statewide competition.  They included North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Sarah Parker, North Carolina Supreme Court Associate Justices Barbara Jackson, Robert Edmund and Robin Hudson and North Carolina Court of Appeals Judge Linda Stephens.

The South Point team also participated in the N.C. Law Day luncheon and awards ceremony at the Cardinal Club.  Chief Justice Parker presented the awards to Black and Pritchard.

The event is sponsored by the Young Lawyers Division of the North Carolina Bar Association.  Black and Pritchard advanced to the state finals by winning the county and regional moot court competitions held earlier this year.  

Gaston County Schools has a rich history in moot court competition success.  This is the fifth time that a GCS team has won the state championship in the past seven years. No other school district or school in the state has achieved this feat except Gaston County. 

This is the fourth time that South Point High School has received top state honors in the highly competitive event.  They also won state championships in 1994, 1995 and 1998.  The team is coached by teacher advisor Melinda Pierce and local attorneys Ronald Lovelace and Steven Jackson.   In addition, Gaston County’s Highland School of Technology won state championships four times.

Melinda Pierce, South Point teacher and advisor to the moot court team said, “I was so proud.  It was a difficult competition, but Darrell and Amber were poised and confident.  They answered the Supreme Court justice’s questions as though they were seasoned attorneys.”

L. Reeves McGlohon said, “This is a very difficult academic competition and we commend Amber, Darrell, and team advisor Melinda Pierce for bringing the state moot court championship home to Gaston County.  Our students advance to the highly competitive moot court finals year after year and we are very proud of this tradition of excellence.