Wrapping Up

Well.

*ahem*

WELL!

Congratulations, team, on your hard work, your "kindness and competence", and your willingness to rely upon God. I'll be the first to agree that I never expected to be in the finals--I've watched that trial for years with tangible awe! I think it'll sink in eventually that we were there, that we placed second, that "God governs in the affairs of men", as Ben Franklin aptly put it.

I feel so privileged to have been part of this team for four years. Beyond just facts and legal theory, I've learned critical skills, gained confidence, and made some truly wonderful friends. I hope that each person on this team will continue to work hard, passionately pursue excellence, receive criticism, solicit help, accept responsibility, and, above all, constantly rely upon God's ever-present help. Thank you all for your friendship, hard work, great attitudes, and sense of humor. It's been a fantastic ride, and I'm excited to see where you'll go next year! It's not the end of the road for me, either, as I hope to continue speaking on OU's debate team or start a collegiate mock trial team. I'm not sure, but you'll definitely hear all about it...

With thanks to the team and to God,
Sarah

Good Morning

Good morning and when I say good morning I mean GOOD morning!! The day we have all been waiting for has arrived! States are a short 5 hours away and I hope that everyone has practiced to the extreme limit and went to bed early last night! If you are nervous, here is some tips on being not nervous:

Simeon: If you are in mental anguish, look, you've thought about this. You're prepared!

Jenny: We don't get paid money to do our job. Just barbecue sauce. Just be careful not to get grilled.

Christian: Even if he's an irksome individual, your witness at least won't refer to himself in the third person.

Mr. Robe: Boy, this is really scary!

Lydia: Don't worry. I'm sure he's not expecting a full-blown-ready-to-go-to-trial thing.

James: Just don't forget the name of your witness and you should be fine.

Alethia: Don't be scared of the big word. Just remember it's 'Sarah' and then...'bellar'.

Sarah: Hey, this is not a support group. This is a trial.

Laura: I'll take the final word. "We don't need no stink'in bus to get there!"

Laura

A Bad Omen!

Did you realize that there is competition near "The Ides of March?!" I don't know if maybe I am the only one who LOVES Shakespeare, but, you know, classic omen.

Laura

A Very Happy Post

If anyone actually wants to see what a death certificate looks like, here's your opportunity!! Get excited, people! :)  (Click on the picture to see it larger)

Sarah

WEDNESDAY!!!!!

Never before in most of your brief competition careers has "Wednesday!" held such deep meaning. To borrow from West Side Story, "Say it soft and it's almost like praying..." Of course, you'll feel better if you do some real praying, not just "Wednesday! Wednesday! Wednesday! Wednesday! Wednes..."


And if you're feeling stressed, there's nothing like a good laugh to loosen you up. So here you go.

Given our obsession with lint rollers....

And MUFFINS!!

These are from bentobjects.blogspot.com , which is full of other hilarious images... :D

So yeah. Wednesday. Enjoy the tangible anticipation, check your notebooks, call me with your questions, and I'll see you tomorrow morning in the driveway just past this one toward The Plains!

Sarah

State Competition...

How is everyone feeling about the State competition? Great! Don't you guys just love Mock Trial?!?!?!?! The answer to this question will tell whether or not you love Mock Trial.

If we won State and could advance to Nationals, would you do it?

So, there.

Just a quick reminder; there is security at the courthouse that we will be competing in, so leave all knives and stuff at home.

Hope that everyone is looking forward to the time change this Sunday as much as I am (not)!

Sleep well, everyone!

Lydia

On Stardates

Lately, people have been asking me what the funky numbers at the top of my documents mean. Naturally, they're stardates. How else would I keep track of my revisions?!?

They're formatted like this:
(mm)(dd)(yy).(military time)
Right now, for example, it's stardate 030811.12. See? Of course. It's simple. :)

However, in my loooooong years of experience as an attorney (*coughcough*) I have found them to be especially helpful for tracking revisions, since no other format concisely contains the month, date, and hour. And it looks cool.

If you have no idea what a stardate is, watch the first 10 seconds of this video, and you'll know all about it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VibXjlF0N1c&feature=related

So that's today's update. I won't mention that tonight will be the last official meeting of my mock trial career. Cue sad symphony orchestra and weeping. IT'S THE END OF AN ERA, PEOPLE!!!!!
Oops. I think I just mentioned it. :D

See ya'll tonight!
Sarah

Actual teams at state...

Drumroll please...

Archbishop Hoban HS Team Thomas *

Ashland HS Team Red 

Big Walnut HS Team Purple

Centerville HS Team Black *

Danville HS Team Black *

Dayton Early College Academy Team Red *

Georgetown HS Team Black *

Indian Hill HS Team Black *

Indian Hill HS Team White *

Jackson HS Massillon Team Gold  (This confirms my suspicions that we need a Wikipedia page!)

Lake Ridge Academy HS Team Blue

Marysville HS Team Temporal *

Mentor HS Team Rock 

Mother of Mercy HS Team Vicimus *

North Olmsted HS Team Legal Eagles

Olivia Davidson Washington Team Washington (Yeah, that's us! Woot!!)

Orange HS Team Cub (admitting stuff into evidence?? Well now...)

Orange HS Team Falcon

Perrysburg Court Explorers Team Puma

Pickerington Central HS Team Tigers *

Pleasant HS Team White 

Reynoldsburg HS Team S *

Solon HS Team A Scalia

Solon HS Team J Roberts

Sylvania Southview HS Team White

Upper Arlington HS Team Marshall *

Walsh Jesuit HS Team Maroon 

Westerville North HS Team Immortal *

That's 28 teams, in case you're too lazy to count them yourself. And I believe I've broken this news before OCLRE... :D Anyone who feels like it should add/change links to info about the new teams. I've only got a few more minutes to make changes to my closings! Gaaaah!

I hope to see at least some of you in about an hour. Bye now. :P

Sarah

The Longest Post Ever!

So.


There are only 15 teams at State this year.


Wow.


In case anyone didn't get the email, the teams are
Archbishop Hoban (Team Thomas) Notably, without J. Decker this year. Hum.
Centerville High School (Team Black)
Danville High School (Team Black)
Dayton Early College Academy (Team Red)
Georgetown Jr. Sr. High School (Team Black) Also from Scioto. :)
Indian Hill High School (Teams Black and White)
Jackson High School (Team Gold)
Marysville High School (Team Temporal)
Mother of Mercy High School (Team Vicimus)
OLIVIA DAVIDSON WASHINGTON (TEAM WASHINGTON) !!!
Pickerington Central High School (Team Tigers)
Reynoldsburg High School (Team S)
Upper Arlington High School (Team Marshall)
Westerville High School (Team Immortal)


Since there is an odd number of teams, Reynoldsburg or Pickerington will play both sides at the same time. There will be eight trials of non-eliminated teams during the first round (Thursday from 2-4), like this (just going in order, no predictions!):

Archbishop Hoban v. Centerville

Danville v. Dayton Early College Academy

Georgetown v. Indian Hill Black

Indian Hill White v. Jackson

Marysville v. Mother of Mercy

ODW v. Pickerington

Pickerington v. Reynoldsburg

Upper Arlington v. Westerville

Then in the second round (Thursday from 6-8), there will be four (or three) trials of non-eliminated teams, like this (pretending the first team listed in each match-up won):

Archbishop Hoban v. Danville

Georgetown v. Indian Hill White

Marysville v. ODW

Upper Arlington v. (randomly selected losing team)/(Pickerington, if they won both trials)

Trials of losing teams against losing teams would take place at the same time, of course.

Thus, the third round (Friday morning) would have only four teams. (Again, pretending the first listed team won.)

Archbishop Hoban v. Georgetown

Marysville v. Upper Arlington

As you can see, there can mathematically be only one trial on Friday. I wonder if that means that Ms. Natalie will move the final round to Friday afternoon. If so, we should stay and watch it: it'll be worthwhile!

So there you go. I'm excited about being in Ohio's top 15 teams, in case you can't tell. I guess this "mock trial club" model is actually pretty effective! ;)

Sarah
P.S. Let me  know (or just fix 'em) if any of the links don't work/go to the wrong place. I did this in kind of a hurry so that I can actually do what I'm supposed to be doing today! :)