Post by Todd B on Mar 25, 2007 1:30:46 GMT -5
Ida law team sets sights on state title
Article published Mar 24, 2007
www.monroenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070324/NEWS01/103240040
Nine students from Ida High School will compete for a state title today in Lansing in the Michigan High School Mock Trial competition.
The team placed seventh out of 33 teams at the regional competition March 3 to qualify for the event. This is the first time in three years the school has had enough interest to field a team.
For the competition, each team is given information about the case they will present ahead of time. Teams then divide the roles of attorneys and witnesses and plan strategies, write opening and closing arguments and prepare questions for direct and cross-examination.
This year's fictitious case is about a 19-year-old honors student who went shopping at the local grocery store late one night and was asked to finish up shopping so the store could close. The store security guard and the student got into a scuffle leading to the student's arrest. Criminal charges were dropped against the student, but the student is suing the security guard, the store and the police in a civil suit.
Junior Erin Lederman plays one of the prosecuting attorneys. She said she had no previous experience with the law before joining the team.
"It's been a learning experience because I had no knowledge of the law," she said. "I know a lot about it now and I learned public speaking skills."
Erin said she is ready for the state competition, but is a little unsure what to expect.
"It's a little nerve racking going to state," she said. "The level of competition is so much higher. The hardest part is getting up in front of people I don't know."
Sarah Clare said working on the case has taken a lot of preparation, especially since she has two different positions to portray, a defense attorney and the student shopper.
"I had to memorize my opening statements," the junior said. "It was difficult at first to go back from one to another."
Sarah said the team is excited to compete at the state level.
"We're really excited since the whole team is a rookie team," she said.
Sophomore Joshua Sova said participating in the mock trial is fun, but becomes difficult when you are no longer asked questions by teammates.
"It's not bad getting cross examined by your teammates," he said. "When you are crossed by someone you don't know it's hard because you don't know what they are going to ask."
He said the best preparation was to memorize the witness statement so he understands the case well enough to answer any questions the opposing counsel may have.
Other team members include juniors Sarah Howell, Kelsey DeLand, Chelsea Gaynier, sophomores Lindsay Cousino and Gabrielle Costello and freshman Stephanie Kopcsek.
The team's coaches are teacher Roberta Steffen, school psychologist Amy Costello and 2000 graduate Elizabeth Springsteen.
Ms. Springsteen, who is in her third year of law school at the University of Toledo, said the team has been working since October to prepare for the two competitions.
"At the beginning it was hard from them to understand the material but once they understand the concepts, they were able to write their own material," she said. "Now, they are just working on cosmetics and putting all of it together."
Ms. Springsteen said she was surprised to learn the team would compete at state.
"It was great because they haven't done this before," she said. "We were all surprised."
The students will be scored by a professional judge and two attorneys who will serve as jurors. They are ranked on a scale of 1 to 10 for the quality of their arguments and individual performance.
The teams must stay in their time limits: five minutes for opening and closing arguments, 25 minutes for the prosecution and 20 minutes for the cross examination.
Ida's defense team will face Grand Blanc High School and the prosecuting team will face Andover High School in the morning sessions. Four of the ten teams will be selected to compete in the afternoon before a state champion is selected.
Nine other schools from across the state will compete for the title. Those schools are Andover in Bloomfield Hills, Ann Arbor Community, Ann Arbor Huron, Bay City Central, Clarkston, Forest Hills Northern, Grand Blanc, Kalamazoo and St. Clair.
The competition is sponsored by the Michigan Center for Civic Education.