Last Tuesday, Weehawken High School was one of nine schools from all over Hudson County gathered together for the semi-final mock trial competition at the county administration building.
Weehawken High School won in the semi-final round, but they lost to McNair Academic High School in Jersey City in the finals later that evening.
The students played various courtroom roles, including attorneys, witnesses, and jurors, in a fictional court case developed by the American Bar Association. This year’s mock trial was based on a fictitious criminal case about the kidnapping of a 12-year-old.
“It’s really wonderful to take the skills you have.” – Elise Di Nardo
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Extra special
The Hudson County competition is one of only a few nationwide that are actually held inside a real courtroom. Most are held in a school gym.
The countywide competition is a volunteer effort on all levels in the courtroom from the teachers to time keepers, with the exception of the county sheriff’s deputies on hand for security. As the program grows each year, it gains more interest from lawyers, judges, and participating schools.
“It’s a collaborative effort,” said Jane Carey, assistant criminal division manager of the courts last week. “There’s no way we could do this without everyone.”
The Weehawken team
Gary Siramarco, the teacher/advisor for Weehawken, is a social studies teacher at the high school. His partner in coaching is Elise Di Nardo, a trial attorney and also the public defender for Weehawken.
The two have been coaching the students together for 10 years and are invested in the program wholeheartedly.
“It’s amazing to me,” said Di Nardo. “It’s really wonderful to take the skills you have, the things that you’ve learned, and share them with teenagers.”
Siramarco added that the program helps students improve their listening, reasoning, and research skills. “We hope that will carry over to their core subjects,” said Siramarco.
The Weehawken students usually practice at the Town Council room in City Hall on Sundays as they prepare for the competition. Siramarco organizes the students and gets them ready with questions while Di Nardo encourages them to be confident and follow through with their delivery.
“It’s great to watch them do what I do,” said Di Nardo. “They perform and speak well in public. It’s absolutely rewarding.”
While she hopes to inspire the students to follow a career path into law, Di Nardo said she has been inspired by them as well. “The kids have no fear,” said Di Nardo. “They’ll find a way to get their angle.”
The competition
Each year for the competition, cards are chosen to decide which teams will argue defense and prosecution. Weehawken drew the prosecution card in the semi-finals this year against the Bayonne High School defense team.
Nashwa Elangbawy and Giselle Immerfall played the roles of prosecutors and presented the fictional kidnapping case to a jury made up of other high school student participants.
Other students played the part of witnesses, including Rahat Merchant, who was commended by Judge Mary Costello for her convincing portrayal of the fictional character Devon Walsh.
After the presentation of the cases to a hung jury, the final decision was left to the judges to decide based on their scoring.
Weehawken won the semi-finals and went on to present their case in front of Chief Justice Stuart Rabner for the final round against McNair.
Both Siramarco and Di Nardo agree that students who start off timid and shy wind up coming out of their shell by the end of the program.
“They progress from witness to lawyer,” said Di Nardo. “[By the end] they are confident, boisterous. The program has a lot to do with that.”
Some of the students who participated in previous the mock trial competitions are now students in law programs at universities such as Seton Hall.
Mayor Turner was proud of the students for their accomplishment and getting as far as they did in the competition. “It just shows that the team is doing phenomenal,” said Turner. “Elise DiNardo and Gary are an exceptional team and the students are just performing phenomenally.”
McNair Academy of Jersey City will compete against the Morris County mock trial winner in the northern regional competition of the Vincent J. Apruzzese High School Mock Trial Program on Feb. 11 at the New Jersey Law Center in New Brunswick.
Lana Rose Diaz can be reached at ldiaz@hudsonreporter.com.