About HBA

Hawaii Baptist Academy placed second in the 10th Annual Loyola Law School and Dr. Edison H. Miyawaki Moot Court Competition, held March 29, 2008.

The two-person HBA team of Senior Jennifer Hu and Sophomore Taryn Bohan took eventual Champion Punahou School down to the wire in a hotly contested Final Match, held in Punahou’s Cornuelle Auditorium.

Bohan was given the “Best Oralist Award” by the overall judging panel. 
 
This is the first year HBA participated in the Competition.  Both Hu and Bohan are products of HBA’s Mock Trial program, and gave up substantial portions of their Spring Break to represent HBA.   Their work resulted in high praise from competition judges, organizers, and competitors.  Sponsor Dr. Edison H. Miyawaki indicated that he was particularly impressed by the performance of HBA in light of this being its first year in the competition.

The participating students were responsible for preparing and arguing both sides of the case District of Columbia v. Heller, a Second Amendment/Gun Control case with historic implications, that is actually pending before the United States Supreme Court during its current session.  The students were responsible for mastering not only the facts of the case, but also complex issues of constitutional law, statutory analysis, and the history of the Second Amendment as it appears in the United States “Bill of Rights”.