Model UN @ Eastern

Eastern’s mock trial team has had a very successful year thus far. Once the casebook was released in November of 2021, captains Maiya Little and Anika Kapoor got to work reading through it all, and putting together their directs, crosses, and everything that goes into a trial. There are many components that make up a trial, so here’s a simple guide to how things work! Prosecution vs Defense This year, the city of Metropolitan (the prosecution) is accusing Perry Jordan (the defense) of being involved in the trafficking of stolen luxury goods. Both sides have two attorneys; the prosecution’s are Maiya Little and Claire Sklar, and the defense’s are Anika Kapoor and Claire Sklar/Giovanni Ciro. Along with the attorneys, each side has three witnesses to help their side win. On the prosecution, Officer Parris Jewel is played by Micheal DiPascale, expert Jules Thompson is played by Riya Nandakumar, and clerk Cameron Clark (say that ten times fast!) is played by Paige Huber. The defense has the accused Perry Jordan being played by Tiana Cyrelson, rover driver Blair Overland played by Thomas Alexander/Jordan Kramer, and expert Kaden Keller played by Faith Lee. How does a trial run? Understanding how a mock trial proceeds is difficult at first, but the more you watch, the easier it’ll be. Both prosecution and defense sides start with their opening, where they explain why they’re in court today, and what they will prove (in this case, if Jordan is guilty or innocent). Next, the prosecution witnesses will be brought to the stand. The prosecution attorneys will question them, which is called a direct, and it’s practiced before the trial. They’ll ask questions about their jobs, their relevance to the case, and anything to paint Jordan as guilty. After their time is up, the defense side questions the prosecution witnesses in the cross, which the witness will have to answer on the spot. Once all the prosecution witnesses go, the defense witnesses take the stand. Same as the prosecution, they’ll go through their directs and crosses. The opposing sides’ attorneys can object to the questions the other sides ask if they believe they are improper questions. For example, if the defense asks a prosecution witness about an event that has nothing to do with the case, the prosecution can object on the count of relevance. Both attorneys will state either why or why not it is relevant, and the judge will decide to either overrule the objection, or sustain it. The trial ends with both sides’ closing statements, which summarizes what was discovered in court, and how that proves Jordan’s innocence or guilt (depending on what side is going). The judges will discuss privately who they think performed better, and after a short recess will declare the winner. South Jersey Champions After preparing for 3 months, the first trial was on February 5th. The prosecution side went, and they won the trial. Next week on February 12th, the defense went twice in two separate trials, and defeated the other teams. With the record of 3-0 Eastern advanced to the county finals and came out victorious! The first two regional trials fell on March 1st, and the team ran into some problems. One of the defense attorneys, along with two witnesses, were absent. Substitutions had to be made, but that didn’t stop the defense side from winning both trials. Anika Kapoor and fill-in Claire Sklar managed to snag a win against very talented teams, despite all the substitutions. The South Jersey Championship was the closest trial the team had seen yet, and, once again, Eastern’s team was able to clinch another victory. Officially the South Jersey Champs, the next trial on March 10th was the Semi-Regional Finals for the state! Unfortunately, the team lost in a very impressive trial, but Eastern’s mock trial team ended third in the state! What the captains have to say The two captains, Anika Kapoor and Maiya Little, joined the club as freshmen and started out as witnesses. When asked how past team leaders influenced their way of leadership, they both said how they wanted to create a more friendly environment. Prior years, the team was very professional but not as fun, and this year Kapoor said she “wants us all to be friends.”A new tradition of doing a Power-Point night was started, and they hope that the underclassmen will carry on with it, and keep the unity that they created this year with the team.

Staying professional, but having fun, allowed cooperation on both sides, and Little mentions how that helped Sklar fill in for the opposing side’s attorney with Staying professional, but little problem. Both captains prefer trials pre-Zoom, having fun, allowed where the teams face off in a real-life courtroom. Sadly, this wasn’t made poscooperation on both sides. sible with COVID, but they were happy that the Zooms could at least be all together at school, and not at each member’s individual homes. When asked about how much time is put into Mock Trial, Little says she thinks it might be 10 hours a day, and Kapoor jokes that she “breathes Perry Jordan.” The effort put into the club is clearly shown because all the witnesses and attorneys felt prepared for each trial. With their skills learned from Mock Trial, both Kapoor and Little plan to study law in college. Little said that now “everything I do is through a Mock Trial lense,” so it’s clear that the club has left a big impact. The team is sad to see their great senior captains go, but they can’t wait for all they will accomplish in the future!

From Left to Right: Sam Lee, Riya Nandakumar, Faith Lee, Jordan Kramer, Anika Kapoor, Maiya Little, Claire Sklar, Thomas Alexander, Michael DiPascale, Paige Huber, Aarav Jain, Tiana Cyrelson, Kevin Farrow (Supervisor)

Photo supplied by Maiya Little ‘22

Eastern Model UN team continues its tradition of success

By JOSEPH LOVERDI ‘22 Sports Editor

For many years, the Model United Nations club at Eastern was barely even a thought to most students. But it actually has a terrific history of success, with numerous best delegation wins at collegiate conferences. And now that it’s open to all students, the Model UN team has not only expanded, but thrived. Model United Nations is essentially a simulation of a United Nations department or international organizations like the European Union. It follows all United Nations procedures (also known as parliamentary procedure), where delegates suggest moderated caucuses (a moderated debate on a specific issue) or unmoderated caucuses (delegates can freely roam the room to understand the positions of other delegates and form blocs, which are large groups of countries with similar positions that aim to solve the committee’s problem in a beneficial way) to tackle their committee’s main issue, which can range from the financial crisis of 2008 to the execution of Marie Antoinette. The main goal of each committee is to write a resolution paper (through the blocs mentioned earlier) to solve the issue at hand, although a crisis will be thrown in to shake up country positions. If a delegate does especially well, they’ll win an award at the end of the conference. The awards range from Best Position Paper (a position paper outlines your country’s position, as well as offering a solution to the committee’s topic) to Best Novice (the best-performing delegate who has attended no more than 2 conferences) to Honorable Mention (normally one or two delegates who performed well, but not at a Best Delegate level), with the most coveted award being Best Delegate. The Eastern Model United Nations team attended two conferences in February, run by Moorestown High School and Clearview Regional High School. The Moorestown conference, held on February 5, was remote, which provides specific challenges to the delegates, as it’s far different from a normal in-person conference. Team captain Kartik Vijayapuri describes them as a new experience. “I’m sure many delegates actually found remote easier, as it took a lot of stress away from speaking. However, in terms of technical issues and such, we learned to stay patient and had good training which helped us seamlessly transfer from in person conferences to remote and back to in person. If anything, remote conferences were a time to hone our MUN skills to do really well as we switch back to in person.” The team enjoyed much success despite the challenges of a remote conference, as six delegates would come home with awards, three of them winning the Best Delegate gavel — team leader Vijayapuri, and siblings Ajay and Anita Raj. Their performance through such a tough format should be commended, and Their next conference would be at Clearview on February 26, with a return to the normal in-person conference schedule. The smaller Eastern delegation again shined, as four students would win awards, two for Best Position Paper (senior Ethan Levy and freshman Jack Bracchi) and two for Best Delegate (sophomore Ajay Raj and junior Anita Raj). The final conference of the year will be held at Haddonfield Memorial High

The team enjoyed much success despite the challenges of a remote conference, as six delegates would come home with awards.

School on March 26. It’ll be the final conference for long-time delegates like Vijayapuri. “I’ll miss the tight knit team we developed as well as the community as a whole. The weekly meetings, team bus rides, and friendships made the MUN atmosphere not only educational but also fun,” he said. The Model United Nations team has continued to be successful year after year, and February was no different for them. Here’s to hoping they can continue their tremendous success at the Haddonfield conference, and that the seniors can go out with a bang.

The SJMUN (Eastern Conference) team concluded their February delegation performance ahead of the March conference.

Photo supplied by Kartik Vijayapuri ‘22