May 23, 2008
Crossway HomeLearners of Atlantic County, state title holder in the New Jersey State Bar Foundation’s 2007-2008 Vincent J. Apruzzese High School Mock Trial Competition, placed fourth in the third annual American Mock Trial Invitational (AMTI) held May 18-20 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
New Jersey’s two other top teams, Colts Neck High School of Monmouth County and Livingston High School of Essex County, came in 12th and 13th respectively.
In all, 18 teams representing seven states and one foreign country competed in the AMTI, cosponsored by the New Jersey State Bar Foundation and the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers. D. H. Hickman High School of Missouri won first place.
Several students from the Garden State were singled out for excellence and received awards at the competition. Best Attorney honors went to Anna Van Vranken and Sam Griffith of Crossway and to Gil Turetsky of Livingston High School. Crossway’s Corinthea Harris was named Best Witness.
Crossway was one of just six schools to score two wins during three challenging rounds of competition, while Livingston and Colts Neck each won one round.
Notable for its inclusivity, the competition was established in May of 2006 by the New Jersey State Bar Foundation and the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers to allow high school mock trial champions with weekend religious obligations to compete in a national forum. Another exceptional feature of the AMTI is that it is the only nationwide mock trial competition that permits more than one team to represent each state. As many as three of a state’s top four high school championship teams are eligible to participate. In addition, because the rounds take place on early weekdays, AMTI does not interfere with proms, Advanced Placement exams or Mother’s Day.
Besides New Jersey and Missouri, the teams came from Alabama, California, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Washington State and South Korea. Each team had anywhere from seven to ten students.
The team from Crossway HomeLearners had been the first home schoolers to clinch the state title, with Livingston and Colts Neck placing second and third respectively.
Crossway was represented by teacher-coach Rick Van Vranken and students Mike DiAntonio, Sam Griffith, Bethany Harris, Corinthea Harris, Rhett Kirschhoff, Andrew Thorne and Anna Van Vranken. Acting as attorney-coaches were Gary R. Griffith and Richard A. Carlucci of Griffith & Carlucci, Ocean City.
Livingston participants included teacher-coach Thomas Garzon and student team members David Emert, Emma Fridel, Julia Goldstein, Shafaq Hasan, Jordan Lyons, Daniel Rockower, Nina Rosenberg, Evan Schneider, Gil Turetsky and Lisa Killary. Phil Kahn, an attorney with Fein, Such, Kahn & Shepard inParsippany, served as the team’s attorney-coach.
Colts Neck students Britney Dupuis, Patrick Fan, Amelia Hartzell, Laura Joseph, John Mondel, Evan Preminger, Michelle Tanen, Bill Visone, Joan Grubb and James Boyce were led by teacher-coach Holly Tracy with James Tracy and Thomas Convery of Tansey, Fanning, Haggerty, Kelly, Convery & Tracy in Woodbridge serving as the team’s attorney-coaches.
Founded in 1958, the New Jersey State Bar Foundation is the educational and philanthropic arm of the New Jersey State Bar Association. The Bar Foundation’s mission is to promote public understanding of the law through a free, comprehensive public education program. Among its activities, the Foundation conducts seminars and conflict resolution training, publishes materials, operates a videotape loan library and speakers bureau, and coordinates elementary, middle and high school mock trial competitions. For more information about the Foundation's programs and publications, visit us online at www.njsbf.org or call 1-800-FREE-LAW.
- NJSBF -