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WELLESLEY, Mass. - A team of eight students from Wellesley
College finished first place out of 40 teams from around
the United States in the American Intercollegiate Mock Trial
Tournament in St. Petersburg, Fla., April 13-14. The tournament
was sponsored by the American Mock Trial Association (AMTA).
Students who were part of the Wellesley team included:
Jessica L. Hass '02, Albuquerque, N.M.
Karen E. Long '03, Littleton, Colo.
Elizabeth K. Edwards '04, Allentown, Pa.
Kimberly J. Kolstad '04, Allendale, N.J.
Sabrina A. Gibson '05, Buffalo, N.Y.
Julia M. Reed '05, Nashville, Tenn.
Alanna G. Clair '05, Cincinnati, Ohio
Lindsay Yarbrough Burr '05, Boulder, Colo.
In addition to the team's accomplishment, team captain
Jessica Hass won an individual award for Best Attorney and
first-year student Julia Reed won an individual award for
Best Witness, portraying a police detective.
Two Boston attorneys, Ilan Barzilay, with Wolf, Greenfield
& Sacks, P.C., and Brian Olson, with Grand Circle Corp.,
serve as Wellesley College's Mock Trial coaches, helping
prepare the team for the competition. The AMTA was founded
in 1985 to give undergraduate students an opportunity to
learn firsthand about the work of trial attorneys. AMTA
mock trial competitions promote understanding of the American
judicial system and help students to develop critical thinking
and enhance their communication skills. This year marked
the first year of the American Intercollegiate Mock Trial
Tournament.
The 40 competing teams won spots to the national tournament
by qualifying at 17 regional tournaments sponsored by AMTA
and held during late January and February. The national
tournament included teams from schools such as New York
University, Rice University and the University of Southern
California. The Wellesley team won a tournament spot at
a regional competition in Manchester, Conn., in February.
"The team members began their preparation back in September
and put in an extraordinary amount of effort, meeting several
times during the week, including on weekends," said Barzilay.
"Their dedication to mock trial, a non-credit extracurricular
activity, was astounding. What makes the Wellesley team's
achievement even more remarkable is that this is only the
second year of the mock trial team's existence, its first
with a coach."
Founded in 1875, Wellesley College has been a leader in
liberal arts and the education of women for 125 years. The
College's 500-acre campus near Boston is home to 2,300 undergraduate
students
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