In one of the most success­ful years yet, the Justice High School Foren­sics Team secured their fifth Occo­quan Region 6C Title, as well as having eight students qual­ify for the state compe­ti­tion. This team worked extremely hard this year to secure their fifth Regional title, and many of the students on the team are immensely proud of their accomplishments. 

Richard Do, the Exec­u­tive Captain, has been a member of the foren­sics team at Justice for three years, since his sopho­more year. He attrib­utes his reason for join­ing the team to his friend, and former Justice student, Fatima Bran­des. “I am honestly so proud of my team’s victory. It was tough to build up a team where half of the seniors last year grad­u­ated and our coach retired,” said Do. “However, I could not have done it with­out my co-captains, Alessan­dra Simmons-Robles and Vale­ria Peter­son. They were with me in find­ing an adviser and coach, new members, and orga­niz­ing prac­tice dates for all compe­ti­tions. This team would not be as success­ful as we see with­out their tremen­dous support.”

Another member, sopho­more Grace Ruther­ford, who has been on the Foren­sics team since Octo­ber of 2022, says she wanted to join because she “wanted to be more confi­dent and success­ful in speak­ing and also meet new people.” Ruther­ford also says she is very proud of the team and coaches for help­ing them get this far, and that she can’t wait for states. She believes the reason for the team’s victory was “how hard-work­ing every­one is and also how much every­one enjoys what they do. It’s not just that we prac­tice often, it’s that we all show up with a smile and want to succeed.”

Addi­tion­ally, this team became the VHSL Class 6 State Foren­sics Team Runner-Ups for the 2022–2023 season! We are so proud of this team and wish them luck next year!