HC Students Receive Top Honors
The Rutgers University Mock Trial Association made an outstanding showing at the American Mock Trial Association National Championship Tournament in Los Angeles, making it the second time ever that Rutgers has advanced to the national level and the first time in five years. Rising from a pool of more than 650 college and university teams, the Rutgers team competed among the top 48 in the country where they took 15th in their division with an Honorable Mention.
Among the eight winning "A-Team" members at the competition were five Honors College students, including from left above: Robert Servilio ('19, SOE/HC), Christine Botvinnik ('19, RBS/HC), Mike Kleynman ('19, SAS/HC), Aasha Shaik ('20, RBS/HC), and the A-Team Captain, Michael Nanchanatt ('19, RBS/HC). In addition to the team's excellent performance, Aasha received an individual All-American Witness Award as one of the top five witnesses, and Mike not only captured an All-American Attorney Award, but was also the only competitor in the entire competition to receive perfect scores for his performance, making him the top attorney in the country.
"It was truly a pleasure to represent Rutgers at the National Championship this year and to see all of our hard work and long practices every day pay off," said Mike. Aasha added, "It was an amazing experience to share with some of the most talented people I know, who I am honored to also count among my closest friends here at Rutgers. We couldn't have done it without our coaches and the many alumni who came back to help us train!"
This year's National Championship competition focused on a copyright infringement case. Each team consisted of attorneys and witnesses and had one month to prepare on both the plaintiff and defense sides as if it were a real trial. In addition to the students, two of their coaches, Michael Roberts and Jenna Przybylski, who are attorneys in the area, traveled to the competition.