National Champions:
Captain Joelle Renstrom, Sonya Datta-Sandhu, Jordan Klepper, Aash Bhatt, Aida Hussen, Linnaea Eberts, Andrew Fink, Ursula McTaggart, Ghislaine Storr, Nick Dybek, Coaches Sherry Ransford, Keith Platte, and attorneys Kurt McCamman and Annette Nickel.
The Kalamazoo Central Mock Trial team. We don't get too much attention because we don't bounce a ball, and the school doesn't earn any money from admission to our contests. So we're the understated, and until 1996, we were the royally screwed over. Kalamazoo Central's law teacher, Mikell Thurston Griffith founded the Mock Trial team in 1986. From 1987 to 1994, the Kalamazoo Central Mock Trial team won the state crown and advanced to the national championships. At nationals the team came in sixth, fifth, fourth, losing rounds by a single point, falling to the mercy of sleeping judges and unauthorized scoring rules. In 1996, a new coach and a new team decided that it was time for a new dynasty. Kalamazoo Central again advanced to the National Championship, and despite sprained ankles, the flu, and broken noses, the team pulled together and won four preliminary rounds and the final round of the tournament. After ten years, Central's team brought home a four foot gavel and a two thousand dollar check as national champions. We won for everyone who has been on the team for the past decade. We won for everyone who has come so close to the one thing desired most, but not quite gotten there. We won for ourselves, as proof that sometimes life is fair and people get what they deserve.