By JONAS MILLER
Features Editor
The College of Saint Rose Mock Trial team recently took fifth place at the Commonwealth Classic Invitational.
The competition, which took place in Amherst, Massachusetts from Oct. 24 through the 25, hosted two dozen teams from 20 schools.
Saint Rose rounded out the top five finishers, with Fordham University, Penn State, and the University of Texas taking the next three spots. Tufts University took first place.
Alexandra Von Stackelberg, one of the teams captains, said the entire team has been working hard since before the semester even started.
“We came back a week before school started in August,” Von Stackelberg said. She added that the team usually worked nine-to-five in their first week of preparations.
It seems the preparations paid off, as not only was the team successful, but one of the member, Eamon Murphy, took home one of the top awards from the invitational.
“The award was specifically for witnesses,” Von Stackelberg said. “There were only eight given out, and Eamon got one. He was given the highest possible score for witnesses.”
This was Murphy’s first award for mock trial.
“I worked relentlessly with my teammates to practice answering the questions well,” said Murphy. “We worked on writing a story to portray to the jury and answering questions that real-life individuals would have about my character, so that when I was appearing in the Mock Trial court, I could demonstrate a strong knowledge of the case and hopefully usurp credibility/validity from the other team’s case in chief.”
He thinks that this award belongs as much to him as those who helped him in his preparations – team members Tom Conlon, Von Stackelberg, and Lauren Modzelewski.
“They dedicated a lot of time to helping me learn my role and assisted me in practicing it,” said Murphy. “They’ve been awesome, and I know they deserve every bit of that award as much as I do.”
At a mock trial invitational there are four rounds of competition. At this particular one, there were two rounds on Saturday, and two on Sunday. Teams are matched up against each other for the first round, and the following pairings are based on team’s results from the previous round.
In each round, both teams try the case provided to them by the American Mock Trial Association. Cases are tried in front of two judges, who in turn cast ballot votes for the best teams. The ballots are tallied at the end, and the winner is chosen.
Modzelewski, the team’s other captain, praises Mock Trail competitions for preparing their competitors for the real world.
“Not only do we learn courtroom etiquette and what it’s like preparing for a trial, we learn public speaking skills and critical thinking,” Modzelewski said. “If students are interested in law, Mock Trial is a great way to learn other aspects that will help their future careers.”
Both Modzelewski and Von Stackelberg encourage students from backgrounds outside of pre-law to consider joining the team. They said they are looking for new members for the fall of 2016.
Murphy was initially attracted to Saint Rose because of the 3+3 program with Albany Law School, but has since ruled out a career in law.
“I believe that mock trial lends me the opportunity to practice thinking on my feet, thinking critically, and speaking eloquently to many people,” said Murphy. “Skills that I feel are highly transferrable to any environment, and ones that are demanded in today’s world.”
The team was created three and a half years ago, and its advisor is Alfred Chapleau, a professor of Criminal Justice at The College.
The next competition they will attend in on Nov. 7 and 8 in Rochester.
“I spend more time practicing for this team than I do for any other individual class, however it is more than worth it,” Murphy said.
“Most of the team encourages this work ethic, and it has clearly paid dividends at the invitational the we attended.”
