The Kiddos

This is the sixth post in a series about the Washington Irving High School Mock Trial team.  Please click for posts one, two, three, four, and five.

There were eight students who performed this case: Sobeida, Alexis, Geannie, Breanna, Anothonia, Jennifer, Sasha and Robbie.  Kimberly was our backup student--she was on the team last year, but recently started a new job and was no longer able to attend practices.  She ended up saving the team from elimination in pretty extreme situation later in the competition...

Sobeida is the only senior on the team, and she played a lawyer on both the plaintiff and defense side.  She is truly a remarkable girl.  She moved to the United States only five years ago and did not speak a word of English when she arrived. Five years later, she is graduating as the Valedictorian of her class.  She recently received the Gates Scholarship, and is planning on attending Northwestern University in the Fall (unless she gets into Harvard off of their waitlist).  Sobeida has the ability to spin witnesses into a confused mess when she cross examines them.  Her thick Dominican accent put other teams at ease; Their surprised looks were always entertaining when she calmly and brilliantly explained away objections thrown in her direction.  For such a new speaker of English, her command of the language is unreal.

The rest of the team is made up of sophomores.  Alexis, a petite, studious, driven and well spoken young woman.  It is clear that she strives to be excellent in everything she takes on.  She also has earned several nicknames throughout her two years on the mock trial team because of her constantly varying hairstyles.  On the Plaintiff side, she played the role of Chris Crangle.  On the defense side, Alexis played a lawyer, and delivered the opening statement for the case.

Breanna played an attorney on both plaintiff and defense sides. Everything Breanna says when she is performing has gravitas.  Her lines are always delivered like a seasoned pastor.  She speaks naturally, but deliberately and could easily walk into any public speaking situation and hypnotize her audience by her presence.  Her demeanor during practice was a different story, though.  Her habit of speaking to herself when she trying to remember her next question caused a lot of breakout of giggling among both the coaches and students.

Geannie aka "Jenny from the block" is the team's newest player. Geannie came to the team this year with a no nonsense at-ti-tude.  In fact, the girl had so much attitude that the judge in the first round of the competition accused of badgering the witnesses during her cross examinations.  The coaches seriously considered getting her a neck brace to stop her from cocking her head from side to side when she spoke.  Geannie played the role of an attorney on the Plaintiff side, and Alex Allen's role on the defense side. 

Robbie, the only male on the team, played the role of Pat Parker on the plaintiff's side.  Like Sobeida, Robbie is extremely good at thinking on his feet.  He was consistently able to deflect the most difficult questions from crossing attorneys.  

Sasha played the role of Cameron Curtis on the plaintiff's side.  Sasha's long curly hair and big smile match  her personality.  She is a deeply loyal friend to her teammates, and is always interested in what is going on in everyone else's life.

Anthonia and Jennifer-- I will explain these two together because they are two peas in a pod.  They are absolute best friends, always together, and both play witnesses on the defense side.  Anthonia played the role of Ryan Ryder, and Jennifer played the role of IM Feddup.  They are both the quietest players on the team, but they are reliable.  They have made a lot of progress since their freshman years.

This is the little team we had, held strongly together by their friendships with one another. With these eight players, Washington Irving High School prepared to get ready for the first round of competition against Essex Street Academy throughout January. . .