Pomona College Mock Trial

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR A TEAM FOR COMING IN FIRST AT TEMPE REGIONALS

As 2017 draws to a close, we wanted to acknowledge the amazing work done by our three fall teams. Most importantly, we have to recognize our 11 new members, almost all of whom had no previous mock trial experience, who made all of our teams competitive through their quick-learning and quick-thinking. Rachel Marandett, Tanaya Sardesai, and Jon Joe Edwards were the high points of Team Everest; Gabe Abdellatif, Liz Murray, Aedan John Boppert, and Dalton Sherman did a number of s...pecial jobs with Team Daily Special; and Isabelle Cheng, Daniel Garcia, Corinne Tsai, and Clay Hamilton had nothing but star power on Team Sparkle & Shade. As an entirely student-run program, our success relies on leadership of our returning members as well. This fall, we have to thank captains Jerry Yan and Jake Hauser for leading Team Everest, Hannah State and Spencer Louie for leading Team Daily Special, and Jordan Wong and Sabrina Marie Vera for leading to Team Sparkle & Shade. Of course, we could not have done anything this semester without the continued commitment of our other returning members also: Ji Min Hwang and Emily Rose on Team Everest, Daniel Holtzer on Team Daily Special, and Rachel Oda on Team Sparkle & Shade. Thank you to everyone following our team this fall. Please enjoy these long overdue pictures of our fall teams. We're working hard on preparing for competing this upcoming spring and hosting regionals for the second year. We'll hope to see you all along for the ride. See you in 2018!

Sorry for the radio silence - we've been busy recruiting and training the newest additions to our team, whom you'll be meeting very soon! For now, we are back at it with another profile of one of our irreplaceable returning members. This is Samantha Borje: Pictured here is the illustrious Samantha, a junior molecular biology major from Hong Kong. She is currently studying abroad at UCL in London and building circuits and origami with DNA. At Pomona, Sam has been actively invo...lved in community building as a staffer with the Women's Union, a mentor with the International Student Mentor Program, and the Director of Disability and Mental Health Advocacy with the Associated Students of Pomona College. This summer, she was on campus researching new drugs for malaria. Sadly, she won't be competing with us this semester, but we can't wait until she joins us back in Claremont next semester for her second year with the team! "I mean I definitely fell into the trap of brown-girl-politicized-no-time-for-hobbies during my first year at Pomona, and if anything Mock Trial has taught me that socially-aware living manifests itself in different ways. Like, sometimes it's fighting for disability justice and survivor support with college deans, but sometimes it's just being a brown girl outscoring my white male counterparts in an activity traditionally dominated by them. Oh and doing it by playing a miserable old lady - that shit's pretty radical."

Sorry for the radio silence - we've been busy recruiting and training the newest additions to our team, whom you'll be meeting very soon! For now, we are back at it with another profile of one of our irreplaceable returning members. This is Samantha Borje: Pictured here is the illustrious Samantha, a junior molecular biology major from Hong Kong. She is currently studying abroad at UCL in London and building circuits and origami with DNA. At Pomona, Sam has been actively invo...lved in community building as a staffer with the Women's Union, a mentor with the International Student Mentor Program, and the Director of Disability and Mental Health Advocacy with the Associated Students of Pomona College. This summer, she was on campus researching new drugs for malaria. Sadly, she won't be competing with us this semester, but we can't wait until she joins us back in Claremont next semester for her second year with the team! "I mean I definitely fell into the trap of brown-girl-politicized-no-time-for-hobbies during my first year at Pomona, and if anything Mock Trial has taught me that socially-aware living manifests itself in different ways. Like, sometimes it's fighting for disability justice and survivor support with college deans, but sometimes it's just being a brown girl outscoring my white male counterparts in an activity traditionally dominated by them. Oh and doing it by playing a miserable old lady - that shit's pretty radical."

Yesterday we announced our upcoming info session, which will take place next Thursday (September 14) at 8pm in Carnegie 107. We are currently looking for new members who have an interest in acting or public speaking to play witnesses and attorneys for the upcoming season. See our event for more details - hope to see you there! As promised, here is Daniel Holtzer: Dan, of Wayne, PA, is pictured here with Lea, one of our juniors enjoying a year abroad. Dan returns this season f...or his second year of competition with Pomona College Mock Trial. A sophomore at Pomona, Dan is majoring in Economics but also interested in math and history. Outside of mock trial, he enjoys creative writing in the fantasy genre. This summer, he interned at Ardent Federal Credit Union doing policy and procedure optimization. "What I really love about Mock Trial is how it can both beat you down and build you up. Being involved has constantly shown me skill areas I need to improve on and has provided me with the space to test myself. Mock Trial has increased my confidence and competency tenfold in just a year, and I'm excited for the Soup Truck Murder Mystery."

Welcome back to the new academic year! We're super excited to be back on campus and arguing a brand new MURDER CASE. Over the next few weeks, we'll be posting member spotlights to get everyone acquainted with the members of our team. First up, Sabrina Marie Vera! Sabrina is currently Vice President of Pomona College Mock Trial as well as a co-captain of one of our upcoming fall teams. Sabrina was born and raised in Chicago, IL and is at Pomona on the Posse, Gates Millennium, ...and Coca Cola scholarships! She is a rising second-year on track to double major in International Relations and Politics with a passion for law and advocacy. Sabrina will also be working at the Writing Center as well as strengthening her community through CLSA and the Latinx Alliance on campus. Over the summer, Sabrina was in Croatia researching Transitional Justice and the Politics of Memory as a European Union Scholar. "My favorite aspect of mock trial is the way it challenges me to think and act quickly as well as develop my public speaking ability. Also, being a first generation Latina with an interest in law can be intimidating; however, through mock trial I have learned more about the ropes of law and trial etiquette. Also, my presence in the court room in the future will be a disruption in the dominant, status quo narrative - so why not disrupt the college mock trial narrative, too?" It's a pleasure to have Sabrina on our team as well as on our Executive Board for the 2017-2018 season. Tune in next time to find out about our very own Daniel Holtzer!

Thanks to everybody who came to our info sesh! If you're interested in auditioning for PCMT, go to pomonamock.com and click on the Join Us tab. If you scroll down, there's a link to signups and downloadable audition materials! Email [email protected] with any questions.

Do you like to argue? Are you interested in traveling with a group of intelligent and amazing people? Is Ruth Bader Ginsburg your personal idol? Consider trying out for Pomona College Mock Trial! We'll be at turf dinner with our impressive trophy collection and a sign up sheet. There will also be an information session Sunday (9/20) at 7pm in Carnegie 109. No prior mock trial experience is necessary! Watch our video to tickle your legal fancy.

For the first time in PCMT history, our C team has advanced to the Opening Round of the National Championship Series! Team C-section, led by the fearless Leo Selker and Matt Dahl, placed 4th overall in Tempe, Arizona! Their only lost ballots were in a great round with our neighbors CMC A, who went on to win the tournament. Congratulations to our outstanding attorney and witness award winners: Jerry Yan, Misha Nathani, and Audrey Glaser! Stay tuned for results from the Claremont regional, where our A and D teams will fight to snag a second bid to ORCS!

Happy New Year! 2014 has been a historic year for PCMT: we attended (and placed at) nationals for the first time, earned our first All-American individual awards, and have brought on our best and biggest freshman class ever! This fall, our teams had winning records at every tournament we attended, and an unprecedented number of sagehens earned individual awards! Congratulations Nate, Benji, Abby, Kenny, Adam, David, Antonio, Gabe, and Matt on your awards! And of course thanks to our fall captains: Nate, Matt, Adam, Kenny, Abby, and Gabe! See detailed results on our website, http://www.pomonamock.com/

This has been our most successful season ever! This year, PCMT took home trophies for: 3rd place at UCLASSIC 1st place at the Stanford University Mock Trial Invitational 1st place at the Claremont Regional 1st place at the Newport Beach ORC... Honorable Mention at the National Championship Tournament See more

Congratulations to our newly elected Executive Board!

We are proud to announce that PCMT now has an All-American Witness and and All-American Attorney! Congratulations to Chris and Gabe!

Our season has come to an end! We finished in 12th place in the Eleazor Division of the National Championship Tournament!