tiny Animas High mock trial team earns national recognition

A small team from Animas High School put Hidalgo County on the national mock-trial map, with Perla Cuevas recognized among hundreds of students who competed in Des Moines, Iowa. For a rural campus south of Lordsburg with fewer than 100 students, the run showed how far a tight-knit school can go with strong coaching and student drive.

The team earned its trip by winning the 2026 Gene Franchini New Mexico High School Mock Trial Program state championship on March 20-21 at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court in Albuquerque. Animas finished first ahead of more than a dozen other teams, including several larger Albuquerque-area schools, and New Mexico courts formally honored the team on April 7 for bringing home the state title.

That state win sent Animas to the 2026 National High School Mock Trial Championship, held May 7-9 in Des Moines. The national tournament brings together top mock trial students from every state and several foreign nations, which made the appearance especially significant for a school of Animas’ size. Center for Civic Values said Animas High School and Cottonwood Preparatory School made Team New Mexico, meaning only two New Mexico schools represented the state on that stage.

The result also reflected the structure behind mock trial in New Mexico, where hundreds of teenagers take part each year with help from teacher advisers and attorney coaches. At Animas, teacher and coach Alysha Wagley credited the students’ hard work and dedication, a reminder that rural success often depends on adults who can stretch limited resources and keep students preparing after class, between practices and on the road to competition.

That preparation matters because mock trial reaches beyond trophies. Iowa’s mock trial program says the activity builds critical-thinking, research, preparation and presentation skills, the same abilities students need in law, public service and many other fields. For Michaela Jarvis, the experience helped shape an interest in the judicial system and pointed her toward forensic psychology, showing how one extracurricular can help a student see a future career more clearly.

Animas’ showing gave the Bootheel something larger than a banner or a bracket finish. It offered a concrete example of how a small rural school in Hidalgo County can compete statewide, travel nationally and come home with recognition that reaches far beyond the district’s size.