Mahwah's Mock Trial Team Crowned County Champs

Once again, Mahwah High School’s mock trial team is the best one in Bergen County.

The team, which prepares a mock courtroom case to perform in front of judges and competes against other public and parochial school districts, won the Bergen County Championship last week. This is the first time the district has clinched back-to-back wins. The team has been named the top competitor in the county for three of the past five years.

Of the 32-member team, 10 students took on roles in the Bergen County Courthouse to play out their interpretation of a case provided to the team by the New Jersey State Bar Foundation, which sponsors the Vincent J. Apruzzese Mock Trial competition. The team prepares both sides of the case – prosecution and defense – though it doesn’t know which side it will be presenting until the competition. This year’s case centered around a burglary that could have been classified as a hate crime.

“It was a very complicated case,” Kimberley Gillen, a senior who has been a member of the team for three years, said. “At competitions, each team presents its case to the judges in a very different style.”

In order to compete in the county championships, the Mahwah team had to win three qualifying rounds, and get through a quarterfinal and semifinal round. Two days after being crowned county champs, the team competed in and placed in the top four in the Northern Regional competition.

When asked why they think they have become such a successful team, the students answer, in unison, “the Beatrice’s.”

The husband and wife duo, Yvonne Beatrice, a history teacher at Mahwah High School, and Michael Beatrice, an attorney, coach the team. “Everyone on the team has a great work ethic,” Gillen said. “But the Beatrice’s are the ones who teach us how to work. They are wonderful, they dedicate so much time to help us.”

According to ‘Mrs. B,’ the kids should be commended for all the work they do. “They run their own practices when we can’t meet with them,” she said. And, the team meets a lot – practices are even scheduled for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

But, for all of the members, the commitment is worth it. They say mock trial has taught them to speak and write effectively, to think on their feet, and the value and payoff of hard work.

“We really become a family,” senior Sam Waxenbaum, a third year member, said. “We fight with each other and laugh with each other and we all help one another, just like in any other family. This is not a club you join to sit in the back of the room and not say anything.”

The team will return to a ceremony at the Bergen County Courthouse in May to be re-presented with their trophy and an outstanding attorney award.

The members of the performance team are Sam Waxenbaum, Kimberley Gillen, Kori Heisler, Kiersten Spencer, Payal Hirpara, Kevin Kim, Allison Orlich, Hunter Saillen, Shina Patel, and Brandon Berletti.