The winners of this year’s 8th grade Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial competition come from P.S./M.S. 95 in the Bronx.

The program was started in 1997 by Bronx Supreme Court Judge Elizabeth Taylor.

From January through May, the students are taught the fundamental principles of litigating a criminal trial.

One of their teachers, Jeannine Angiolillo, says, “I believe that this program gives them the confidence to go forward, to experience things that they never dreamed they could. I think it makes them believe in themselves. And it supports their confidence to support their education because they believe they’ve achieved success.”

Kadiatou Barry, winner of Best Advocate for the whole program, and Allan Best, who won Best Witness, joined “News All Day” to talk about the competition.

Barry and Best say they were happy they won, feeling as though their hard work paid off, especially because they practiced in their free time.

Best says the program was a lot of fun and he learned the “process of a court case.”

Lorraine Coyle is the attorney who helped train the students and the mother of one of our producers here.

Barry says Coyle “helped her language be more precise and clear. She helped me get out of my comfort zone.”

At the end of the show, several other members of the team also joined us on-set. They include Kingjames Iheukwumere, Daniel Moreno, Mariana Mena, and Brayan Jimenez Roman.

Jimenez, who has a stutter, he says that he learned through the program, “even though I might stutter or might not be able to talk like other people, I should not shy away from an opportunity.”

All the students are headed to high school in the fall.