The Bolles School’s mock trial team beat top competitor Fletcher High School and other contenders in the Florida Law-Related Education Association circuit competition, held Feb. 11 at Florida Coastal School of Law.
The Bolles Mock Trial Team competed against Fletcher, Mandarin High School and the Classical Conversations homeschooling group. Local lawyers, judges and Florida Coastal School of Law mock trial team members judged the competition, with Bolles emerging as the winner. The students will move on to the state championships March 23-25.
While Bolles went unopposed to the state level in 2009, 2010 and 2011, the team always struggled to topple Fletcher, which has a pre-professional law program. Fletcher revived its exemplary team in 2011 and has dominated competitions ever since, explained Bolles Mock Trial Team sponsor and Bolles English teacher Andrew Dickson.
“The team is thrilled to have pulled off this upset and is intending to work hard over the next six weeks perfecting its game for states,” Dickson said. “I’m so proud of this team for its magnificent performance Saturday.”
The 2017 Bolles Mock Trial Team includes Kiera Geraghty, Anderson Gronvold, Ramzi Farah, Olivia Morello, Frank Collier, John Bowers, Quinn Kelley, Noah Silverstein, Madison Clubb and Ellie Anderson.
Student scientists head to state, international science fairs
In other school news, a group of Bolles students received 39 awards, including six first place awards, in 13 categories at the Northeast Florida Regional Science and Engineering Fair, held in early February at Jacksonville’s Morocco Shrine Temple.
The competition determined which student projects will proceed to the State Science and Engineering Fair of Florida, a three-day display of science project exhibits prepared by aspiring scientists and engineers. Hannah Lee, Graham Ungrady, Shreyas Chetan, Rishi Misra, Rohil Kanaparti, James Staman, Grant Szymanski, Sneha Reddy and Ann Maris Walton will move on with their respective projects to the state fair, which will be held March 28-30 in Lakeland.
“I am thrilled at how well our students performed,” Bolles science teacher Dr. Kathryn Halloran said. “Just as importantly, I loved their behavior over the entire competition. I especially loved the team spirit they showed at the awards competition – they truly exemplified The Bolles Way.”
Bolles students who placed or received awards in their respective categories include Maya Thomas (first place), Rayna Kuthiala, Grant Szymanski, Alex Tun, Soraya Bata, Hannah Lee (first place), Anna Whelan, Sushmita Udoshi, William Munz, Rohil Kanaparti (first place), Graham Ungrady (first place), Wiley Gillam, Caden Matson, Sneha Reddy (first place), Ann Walton (first place), Henry Li, Anya Raheja, Dennis Rao, Blake Perdikis, Samantha Josephson, Rishi Misra, Shreyas Chetan, Christopher Armstrong and James Staman (first place).
Bolles also had students named to both The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) and the International Sustainable World (Engineering Energy Environment) Project Olympiad (ISWEEEP) international competitions. James Staman will take his project to the ISEF competition in Los Angeles May 14-19, and the team of Ann Maris Walton and Sneha Reddy will be going to ISWEEEP in Houston May 3-8. This will be the second time Walton and Reddy have attended ISWEEEP, but the first time their entry was granted via application.
Writers receive accolades in regional competition
Rounding out the Bolles news, a group of students won several writing awards this year at the Scholastic Writing Awards competition., a five-state competition that solicits student work in the categories of journalism, fiction, humor and poetry.
A record 16 Bolles middle and upper school students received 18 awards. This is the third year Bolles has entered student work in the competition – and the first year a middle school student has been recognized.
“I am so very proud of these young writers – they explored new territory, they took risks, they slashed their work when it needed revision, they listened to their readers in peer editing and to their hearts and minds when creating,” said Bolles journalism teacher Anna Jacobson.
Bolles upper school students who earned awards include: Gold Key winners Aoife O’Riordan, Laina Segel and Havana Frakes; Silver Key winners Hollin Hakimian, Kamren Khan, Quincy Green, Aoife O’Riordan (two awards), Dominicque Pacella and Ann Maris Walton (two awards); and Honorable Mention winners Claire Cywes, Aoife O’Riordan, Lexie Stroud, and Journey Wise.
Middle school student Katie Creveling received an Honorable Mention award in the short story category for her creative piece, “Long Christmas Night.”
