Sunday, April 23, 2000

Students polishing craft for mock trial

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Lakota West team heads to nationals

BY Sue Kiesewetter
Enquirer Contributor

        UNION TOWNSHIP — Lakota West High School senior Priya Kaumthekar wants people to think she is “an innocent twit.”

The Lakota West Mock Trial Team (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

        Not all people, just those who will be judging her mock trial team's handling of a case at a national competition. She and five classmates qualified after winning the state competition in Columbus last month.

        For the nationals, the students will take on roles as both defense and plaintiff attorneys and witnesses in a negligence suit a mother filed against an amusement park after the death of her son. They received the case April 1 and must be ready to argue it May 11-14 in Columbia, S.C.

        That has meant daily three-hour practices during spring break and 90-minute practices on school days, with help from the group's legal adviser, West Chester attorney Dwight Packard, and the team's sponsor, social studies teacher Dale Hutzelman.

        “I want to come off as an innocent twit,” said Priya, who is playing the role of the daughter of the amusement park's former owner. “I want to sound a little snooty, but I don't do anything wrong. I'm "Daddy's little girl.'”

        Besides preparing as a defense witness, Priya is also studying for her role as an attorney for the plaintiff.

        Each of her teammates — captain Alex Chen, Sumit Mallik, Erin Dean, Jim Coutinho and Sarah Ventura — is preparing for two roles to sharpen their understanding of the case and hone their skills.

        “We tried to fit our personalities to the role,” said Sumit who is playing a wit ness for the plaintiff. In state competition, he won for best witness while Alex earned the best attorney award.

        This will be Erin's first competition and she said she's amazed how much tougher it is being on the team than watching from the sidelines.

        “It's a lot harder than I thought it would be,” Erin said. "I have to think on my feet and give convincing answers.”

        This is the third consecutive year a Lakota West team has won the state competition.

        As they move through the national tournament, they will present their case at least twice, each time taking on a new role, perfecting their arguments as they go.

        Should Lakota's team win the national competition next month, it would become the first Ohio team to do so.

        Although Ohio has the most participants of any state in the competition — this year 326 teams including five from Lakota West — no team has ever won at the state level, Mr. Hutzelman said.

       

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