WAU Students Win Acclaimed Mock Trial Tournament Against Temple University
17 February 2025 |
Last weekend, Branson Fellows Shea Standish and Alanah Alphonse competed with other members of the Washington Adventist University Mock Trial team at the national American Mock Trial competition at American University. The team had a tremendous success in obtaining its first post-pandemic victories in the competition.
The team’s first victory came against Temple University, a major public university in Philadelphia, that has more than 30,000 students. WAU has a few hundred students, and the honors college, where the team is based, has less than 80 students. Despite these formidable odds, the WAU team scored a narrow, but significant victory over an impressive and disciplined Temple team.
On Sunday, the team had two trials, one against Howard University, a perennial powerhouse, and newcomers from Elizabethtown College. We gained our second victory of the weekend against the latter school, and came within three points on each of the two ballots against Howard. This was a real step forward for the team, as previously Howard had beaten us by double digits, and this year, there team was one of the six (out of 24), that advanced to the next round. Had WAU managed to prevail against Howard, then WAU would have advanced to the next stage.
Congrats are in order for the team, especially for team Captain Shea Standish, who is in her third campaign, as well as 2nd year veteran attorney Kyle DeCastro, and impressive rookie Bethany Krause. This team orchestrated their case with a group of very impressive witnesses, including Gabriel Cook, Alanah Alphonse, Francisca Kimbembe, Madyson James, Yocelin Morales, and erstwhile time keeper Kimarry Wright. Kudos also to attorney and WAU grad Sonny Moretta who has coached the team with Professor Nicholas Miller for two years now.
The team is grateful for the support and prayers of many parents and friends of our team, as well as Honors College director Brad Haas and Jonathan Scriven, the latter who was able to join us at the competition with Temple. Team leadership are looking for supporters and sponsors who can help the team build on its successes, and achieve even greater things next year.
This news report was updated with information from Nicholas Miller on 19 February.
